Hypolipidemic Effects of Three Purgative Decoctions

Table 1

Summary of studies examining the metabolic effect of rhubarb or rhubarb-containing polyherbal preparations on body weight, serum TC level, and TG level in animal models.

Ref.	Animal	Stress	Duration	Treatment	Metabolic effect
					Body weight^a	TC^b	TG^c
[7]	C57BL/6J mice	Cholesterol diet	4 weeks	Rheum rhaponticum stalk fibre (50 g kg^-1)	NSD (greater weight gain in T group)	↓ *	NR
[8]	Diabetic BBdp rats; SD rats	STZ (for SD rats)	2 weeks	Rheum rhaponticum stalk fibre (50 g kg^-1)	NE (greater weight gain in STZ group)	NSD	NSD
[9]	Wistar rats	Alloxan/ gastroparesis	Once	Water extracts of Rheum palmatum (150–300 mg kg^-1), oral	NR	NR	↓ * (Postprandial)
[10]	C57BL6J mice	STZ	8 weeks	70% EtOH rhubarb extracts (5 mg kg^-1)	↓ *	NR	NR
[11]	SD rats	Triton WR-1339	3 days	DOT (200 mg kg^-1)	NR	↓ *	↓ *
[12]	Wistar rats	High-fat diet	8 weeks	NT	↓ *	NSD	NSD
[13]	ICR mice	High-fat diet	14 weeks	IN, BO or DA (31.5 mg) mixed in diet	↓ * in DA and BO group (body growth)	↓ * in DA and BO group	NE (inhibition noted but not significant)
[14]	Beagle dogs	None	4 and 13 weeks	ERr731	NSD	NR	NR

NSD, no significant difference; ↓, reduced; NR, not reported in the study. T, treatment (experimental) group; STZ, streptozotocin; DOT, Daio-Orengedokuto, consists of Rhei Rhizoma, Scutellariae Radix, Coptidis Rhizoma, Phellodendri Cortex and Gardeniae Fructus; IN, Yin-chen-hao-tang, consists of Rhei Rhizoma, Artemisiae Capillaris Flos, Gardeniae Fructus; BO, Bofu-tsusho-san, consists of Rhei Rhizoma, Scutellariae Radix, Glycyrrhizae Radix, Platycodi Radix, Atractylodis Lanceae Rhizoma, Schizonepetae Spica, Gardeniae Fructus, Paeonia Radix, Cnidii Rhizoma, Angelicae Radix, Menthae Folium, Saposhnikoviae Radix, Ephedrae herba, Forsythiae Fructus, Zingiberis Rhizoma, Kaolinum, Gypsum Fibrosum, Natrium Sulfuricum; DA, Dai-saiko-to, consists of Rhei Rhizoma, Bupleuri Radix, Pinelliae Tuber, Scutellariae Radix, Paeonia Radix, Zizypus Fructus, Aurantii Fructus Immaturus, Zingiberis Rhizoma. (DOT, IN, BO, and DA are all rhubarb-containing polyherbal preparations). NT, contains 40% rhubarb root and stem; ERr 731, special dry extract from the roots of R. rhaponticum.
^a Effect on body weight reduction; ^b on TC reduction; ^c Effect on TG reduction; * Statistically significant.