Effect of Lipid Metabolism in Viscum album Lectin on Rats

겨우살이 Lectin이 지질대사에 미치는 영향

This study was carried out to investigate effect of lipid metabolism in Viscum album lectin on rats. The lectin was purified by sepharose 4B affinity chromatography and gel filtration using sephadex G-150 with plant material from Viscum album collected in Mt. Duk Yui. After 72 h of $CCl_4$ injection (in olive oil, 1:1, 2 mg/kg) there was a significant increase in serum total cholesterol and triglycerige levels relative to the control group. However, treatment of both Viscum album and purified lectin were significantly decreased lipid parameters against the $CCl_4$-induced. Histological observation basically supported the result obtained from serum lipid assay. The livers of rats challenged with $CCl_4$ produced a marked increase of cytoplasmic vacuoles in number, while the number of necrotic cells and swollen hepatocytes did not change significnatly. Rats administered olive oil alone did not alter the normal hepatic architecture. Histological observation of the liver section in rats treated 72 h with either Viscum album purified lectin or $CCl_4$-induced liver lipogenesis showed decreased numbers of cytoplasmic vaculoes and necrotic cells. The normal hepatic architectural pattern was observed in Hematoxylin-eosin stain. These results suggest that Viscum album lectin has a possible protective effect of lipid metabolim in rats.