Effect of combination therapy with allicin and fenofibrate on liver function in rats with combined hyperlipidemia

Objective: To study the effect of combination therapy with allicin and fenofibrate on mixed hyperlipidemia and hepatic function.Methods: Sixty male Wistar rats were randomized into the five groups: the control group,the model group,the fenofibrate group[fenofibrate 80mg/(kg·d)],the allicin group[allicin 60mg/(kg·d) ]and the combination therapy group[allicin 20mg/(kg·d) +fenofibrate 30mg/(kg·d)].The experiment was conducted after 1 week of adaptive feeding.After the rat model of mixed hyperlipidemia was established by 4 weeks of high fat diet and 8 weeks of medicine treatment,the levels of TC,TG,LDL-C,HDL-C,ALT and AST in the serum were measured,and the morphologic changes of liver tissue were observed.Results:(1) Compared with the control group,the levels of TC,TG,LDL-C and HDL-C in all the other groups were significantly higher(P0.01);Compared with the model group,the levels of TC,TG and LDL-C in all groups with medicine treatment showed a significant decrease(P0.01),but the levels of HDL-C were remarkably higher in the fenofibrate group and the combination therapy group(P0.05).(2) Compared with the control group,the levels of ALT and AST in all the other groups showed a significant increase(P0.01 or P0.05);Compared with the model group,serum ALT and AST levels of rats in all groups with medicine treatment showed a significant decrease(P0.01);Compared with the Fenofibrate group,the serum ALT and AST levels of rats in both the allicin group and the combination therapy group showed a significant decrease(P0.01).(3) The liver histological examination revealed that severe fatty degeneration of liver cells occurred in the model group,the steatosis of liver cells in the medicine treated group were significantly ameliorated,but the fenofibrate group showed spotty necrosis of liver cells and bile duct expansion.Conclusion: The effect of long-term combination therapy with allicin and fenofibrate on mixed hyperlipidemia is similar to that of single chemotherapy of doubling dose of fenofibrate,but the former one has decreased side effects on liver.