The preventive effect of activated charcoal on HDL levels and aorta histopathological profiles in hypercholesterol rat models

Hypercholesterolemia is a condition which the cholesterol levels in the blood exceeds the normal value. The use of hypercholesterolemia drugs or synthetic drugs in a long term will cause severe side effects. Therefore, it is important to explore an alternative preventive agent of hypercholesterolemia derived from natural materials, such as activated charcoal. The activated charcoal can absorb substances thousands times of its own weight and might be an effective and non-toxic material. The research aimed to determine the preventive effect of activated charcoal towards HDL level and aorta's histopathology. This experiment used 24 male rats in randomized design that were divided into six groups: negative control (1); positive control (2), and four groups of treatments with activated charcoal doses of 2.250 mg/kg BW (3), 4.950 mg/kg BW (4), 6.750 mg/kg BW (5) 4.950 mg/kg BW (6), respectively, for 14 days. Simultaneously, all groups were received high cholesterol diet except group 1 and group 6. High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) level was measured by the spectrophotometry method and the data of HDL were analyzed using One-Way ANOVA and followed by the Tukey test (p<0.05), while aorta's histopathology were analyzed descriptively. Therapeutic dose of 4.950 mg/kg BW (group 4) showed the best dose in increasing HDL levels by 42% compared to positive control. Activated charcoal reduced the inflammation cells and the defect of aorta's histopathology. Based on the results, activated charcoal prevents the decreasing of HDL level and a defect of aorta's histopathology. (paper)