Interesting facts on the antihyerlipidemic effect of peucedanum pastinacifolium

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Interesting facts on the antihyerlipidemic effect of peucedanum pastinacifolium

Srijit Das

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine - Department of Anatomy Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Email: [e-mail]. Tel.: [phone]

I read with interest the article entitled "Antihyperlipidemic effect of Peucedanum pastinacifolium extract in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats'' by Ahmad Movahedian et al. (2010).¹ This interesting article highlights the antihypolipidemic effect of P. pastinacifolium (Pp) extract on diabetic rats.

A detailed description of the active compound of the plant extract studied may have been beneficial for the readers to understand the action. In the conclusion, the authors speculated various compounds as being responsible for the antihyperlipidemic action. Another interesting fact is the level of blood glucose level reaching 250 mg/dL exactly on the third day, which is debatable. Usually, when the animal is to be labeled as diabetic, depending on the attainment of a certain blood glucose level, it may not be confined to any fixed day. In our previous experiments, we have even encountered the same problem with Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats failing to attain the required blood glucose level even after a span of 4-5 weeks. This is because the rats usually suffer from any experimental diabetes depending on their genetic profile. There are instances in which rats may fail to be diabetic even after the administration of the required dose of streptozotocin. These days, scientists are gradually switching over to genetically grown mice that are diabetic from birth.

In studies involving any plant extract, it is ideal to have a common vehicle in order to compare the results of the experimental groups with the control group, which was found to be lacking in the present study. Although it was not part of the study, the recording of the blood pressure of the animals may have shown some important relationship with respect to their baseline values.

The results of the study open doors for future histological studies on the activity of the vessel wall. The fatty streaks may be studied with special staining. The article has good scientific facts, and the authors and the editor need to be congratulated for their effort in publishing an interesting article.

• 1. Movahedian A, Zolfaghari B, Sajjadi SE, Moknatjou R. Antihyperlipidemic effect of Peucedanum pastinacifolium extract in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2010;65:629-33.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  21 Mar 2011
• Date of issue
  2010