Mona Mohamed Abdel Magied^1,, Salah EL Din Hussien¹, Sahar Mohamed Zaki², Rania Mohamed EL Said²

Artichoke (Cynara scolymus L., Asteraceae family), an edible vegetable from the Mediterranean area, is a good source of phenolic compounds. Two varieties of artichoke were used in this study Green Globe (G) and Violet (V). Five major active phenolic compounds were identified into the aqueous methanolic extracts of artichoke leaves and heads. These compounds were identified as Chlorogenic acid, Cynarin, 1, 5-di-o-Caffeoylquinic, luteolin and apigenin. On the other hand, the artichoke aqueous leaves extract (ALE) and aqueous heads extracts (AHE) for the two varieties were used as hypoglycemic and hypocholesterolemic experiments by using albino rats. ALE was used in the concentration of (1.5 g/kg/day) for the two varieties. AHE was used in two different concentrations (1.5 and 3 g/kg/day). Rats were administrated orally by these different concentrations. Results show the effect of ALE and AHE extracts on the glucose level of diabetic rats. The superior effect was with G4 (Group No. 4) rats administrated 1.5 g LEG/kg/day (Leaves Extract of Green Globe). On the other hand results of the influence of artichoke leaves and heads as hypocholesterolemic action was in a positive way on the level of total cholesterol and reduced LDL and triglycerides levels and increased the level of glutathione peroxides, meanwhile it reduced the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in rats serum. G3 (Group No. 3) [HFD (high fat diet) +1%cholesterol+1.5g LEG/kg/day] recorded the best results as hypocholesterolemic effect which could be attributed to their phenolic content. Our results indicated that, artichoke especially leaves extract of Green Globe (LEG) has good action as hypoglycemic and hypocholesterolemic.

artichoke, leave, head, hyperglycemic, hypercholesterolemia, rats