Dyslipidemia induced inflammatory status, platelet activation and endothelial dysfunction in rabbits: Protective role of 10-Dehydrogingerdione

10-Dehydrogingerdione is a novel cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor of natural origin. Some synthetic CETP inhibitors have recently been reported to suppress proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9). Therefore, the present study aimed mainly to clarify the effect of 10-Dehydrogingerdione on cellular adhesion inflammatory molecules, platelet activation and endothelial dysfunction markers in addition to PCSK9 as compared to atorvastatin in dyslipidemic rabbits. Dyslipidemia was induced in 30 male rabbits, distributed in 3 equal groups through feeding dietary cholesterol (0.5% w/w) for 3 months. Two dyslipidemic groups were concurrently treated with either atorvastatin or 10-Dehydrogingerdione (10 mg/kg/ day, p.o) and dietary cholesterol. One additional group including 10 normal rabbits fed normal diet served as normal control (NC) group. Both 10-Dehydrogingerdione and atorvastatin significantly reduced serum CETP level and activity as well as PCSK9 and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels but increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels as compared to dyslipidemic control (DC) rabbits (p