Celalettin Rahman Çetin, Özlem Çankaya, Yakup Yılmaztekin, Ayse Burçin Uyumlu, Basri Satılmış, İsmet Yılmaz, Metin Fikret Genç, Kadir Batçıoğlu
Anatolian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences - 2025;4(3):150-165
Atherosclerosis is one of the leading causes of death in humans worldwide. Hyperlipidemia is a significant risk factor for atherosclerosis and is characterised by accelerated atherosclerosis. However, factors such as homocysteine, adhesion molecules, and low HDL-C levels have been reported to play a role in the development of atherosclerosis and hyperlipidemia. This study aimed to investigate the effects of hawthorn (Crataegus tanacetifolia) fruit extract and fruit vinegar on total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), nitric oxide (NO), HDL-C, LDL-C, homocysteine, P-selectin, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) levels, which are among the factors causing hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis. In the study, hawthorn extract (HE) and hawthorn vinegar (HV) were administered by gavage to rats with experimentally induced hyperlipidemia (HL). Rats were divided into seven groups. The control group was fed a normal diet. Blood samples taken at the beginning of the study and the end of the fourth and eighth weeks were separated, and the levels of TC, TG, NO, HDL-C, LDL-C, homocysteine, P-selectin, and VCAM-1 were measured. Our results showed that adding HE or HV to the diet reduced homocysteine, P-selectin, TC, LDL-C, NOx and TG levels and increased HDL-C levels. In conclusion, the results of this study, in which we hypothesized that hawthorn fruit extract and fruit vinegar may reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, which increases in correlation with hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, hyperhomocysteinemia and increased levels of adhesion molecules caused by a high-fat diet, showed that hawthorn fruit extract had a strong antiatherogenic effect.
