DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY

Many therapeutic herbs have the ability to decrease cholesterol. In traditional medicine, activated charcoal is frequently used to cure poisonings, aches, and hangovers. The search for affordable medications is a response to the rising expense and adverse effects of cholesterol-lowering medications. In order to assess the anti-hyperlipidemic effects of the activated charcoal produced from the biochemical transformation of Terminalia catappa stem bark, a cholesterol-induced model was utilized in this study. Hypercholesterolemia was induced with 5% cholesterol dissolved in ratio 1:2 of Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and water given orally as vehicle to all experimental rats. In addition, 5kg of animal lard was mixed with 10kg of animal feed and given to rats for seven days. About 500g of the plant's stem bark were collected from the Terminalia catappa tree, dried in the sun, and then allowed to turn completely into charcoal and a highly porous material with a large surface area in an airtight Thermofitcher muffle furnace at 1450°C without oxygen for about an hour. After being reduced to a smooth powder, the resulting charcoal was analyzed. Animals were grouped in 4 which comprise of 3 rats each. All groups except group 1 (control group) were induced with 5% cholesterol orally with gastric gavage and fed with a diet rich in lard. Group 2 (negative control) was left untreated, group 3 and group 4 were treated with 200mg activated charcoal of Terminalia catappa and standard drug of 10mg Atorvastatin tablets respectively. GCMS results show that activated charcoal of Terminalia catappa contains 2 compounds which are 93.24% of Methyl 6- beta galactopyranoside and 6.76% of Stigmastan 3,5-diene, which is a plant sterol. Lipid profile parameters except high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) evaluated revealed a significant decrease (p≤0.05) in low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) in group 3 when compared to group 2. Parameters evaluated revealed a significant increase (p≤0.05) in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), total protein in group 3 when compared to group 2. Antioxidant parameters evaluated an increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) but the increase is not significant. Data from this study show that activated charcoal of Terminalia catappa contains phytochemical compounds that can reduce hypercholesterolemia by adsorbing bile acids.