Morphopathological study of effect of Licorice root extract on atherosclerosis process in coronary artery of male fed rabbit

Coronary artery disease due to atherosclerosis is one of the highest killers today. Cholesterol level reduction by diet or medication would lead to either halting, or decreasing atherosclerosis. We examined whether Licorice root extract can halt atherosclerosis. Fifty male rabbits randomly were divided in five groups. They had gone under normal and high cholesterol (HC) diet for six weeks. One group received HC, one another had normal diet, and other three groups of HC diet were fed 1 g/kg/day, 0.1 g/kg/day and 0.01 g/kg/day of Licorice during this period. The rabbits were sacrificed; their main coronary arteries were taken and prepared for light and electron microscopic study. Morphopathological study of coronary arteries showed that the group who had HC and 1 g/kg/day Licorice extract had a significant difference with others groups. In a way that atherogen reduction was quite obvious in these samples. These results showed that Licorice root antioxidant components (same as Glabridin) can reduce atherogenic reaction in rabbit’s coronary arteries.