Antiatherogenic Potential of Nigella sativa Seeds and Oil in Diet-Induced Hypercholesterolemia in Rabbits

Table 3

Changes in plasma LDL levels (mmol L⁻¹) at 0 week, after feeding of 1.0% cholesterol for 3 weeks and after 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks of treatment.

Group	Week 0	HC induction for 3 weeks	Treatment period (weeks)
			2	4	6	8
NC	0.36 ± 0.3 ^a	0.56 ± 0.3^a	0.36 ±0.2	0.37 ± 0.2	0.29 ± 0.1	0.24 ± 0.1
PC	0.22 ± 0.14^a	9.20 ± 4.9^b	12.79 ± 4.99^a	10.92 ± 4.6^a	6.49± 2.2^a	3.88 ±1.6^a
NSO	0.24 ± 0.2^a	8.51 ±5.1^b	4.46 ±2.2^b	2.34 ±1.2^b	1.06 ±0.6^b	0.63 ±0.7^b
NSP	0.43 ± 0.2^a	9.31 ± 5.5^b	5.28 ± 3.5^b	2.33 ± 1.1^b	1.16 ± 1.4^b	0.28 ± 0.1^b
ST	0.15 ±0.1^a	12.14 ± 8.9^b	6.76 ± 2.3^a,b	4.95 ± 2.1^c	2.18 ± 1.8^b	0.42 ± 0.2^b

Results are expressed as means ± SD of five rabbits. NC group was not given cholesterol. Within a column, values with the same superscript letters are not significantly different from each other at 𝑃<.05 Comparison of plasma LDL (mmol L⁻¹) values at various periods.