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has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Effect of Opium on Lipid Profile and Expression of Liver X Receptor Alpha (LXRα) in Normolipidemic Mouse

  AUTHORS: Abbas Mohammadi, Ebrahim Abbasi Oshaghi, Arash Noori Sorkhani, Farhad Oubari, Roghaye Hosseini Kia, Ali Rezaei

  KEYWORDS: Opium; Cholesterol; Atherosclerosis; LXR

  JOURNAL NAME: Food and Nutrition Sciences, Vol.3 No.2, February 27, 2012

  ABSTRACT: Many people believe that opium has beneficial effects on lipid profile which results in reduced atherosclerosis. Opium contains several alkaloids and biological active components, which some of them are used for atherosclerosis treatment. The liver X receptor α (LXRα) is an important regulator of cholesterol and glucose homeostasis that belongs to the nuclear receptor superfamily. This study aimed to investigate the effects of opium on glucose, lipid profile and LXRα expression. Sixteen N-mary mice randomly were divided into two groups (control and addict), and were studied for one month. Serum lipid profile, Fasting blood sugar (FBS), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were determined. Also LXR mRNA and protein levels were determined by Reverse Transcription PCR and western blotting. This study showed that opium significantly reduced total cholesterol (P