Effect of Pistacia khinjuk Hydroalcoholic Fruit Extract on Some Biological Parameters in Male Rats

Introduction: Pistacia khinjuk is traditionally used in folk medicine for the treatment of various disorders. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of Pistacia khinjuk fruit extract on some selected biochemical parameters using rat model to validate its application in traditional medicine. Materials and Methods: The fruits of the plant were air-dried and the hydroalcoholic extract was obtained. Twenty-four rats were divided equally into three groups: one group served as the control group and the rest as test groups. The test animals were treated with two concentrations of Pistacia khinjuk(200 and 400 mg/kg) orally for twenty-eight days. The biochemical data were analyzed using SPSS software, expressed as means ± SD and were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post-hoc Tukey. Results: The results obtained for the selected biochemical parameters revealed that glucose, triglyceride, Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, urea, bilirubin and GGT levels decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in test groups against the control group. The HDL level increased in test group 1 (200 mg/kg), and Cholesterol, AST and ALT levels decreased significantly in test group 2 (400 mg/kg) (p < 0.05) compared to the other groups. Conclusion: The present study showed that the fruit extract of Pistacia khinjuk possesses hypocholesterolaemic properties, has a glucose-lowering effect, improves the lipid profile, and may be of enormous benefit in the management of diabetes, cardiovascular, renal and hepatic diseases.