Introduction: Hyperlipidemia is one of the most important risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, and the use of synthetic drugs to reduce blood lipid levels is associated with many side effects. This study aimed to investigate the effects of alcoholic extract of borage on the levels of serum lipids compared to lovastatin in mice.

Materials & methods: In this study, 70 male mice with the weight range of 25-30 g were randomly divided into 7 groups: control group under normal diet, group with high cholesterol diet (containing 1% cholesterol or CH); the groups with high-cholesterol diet plus various concentrations of borage extracts; and the group with high cholesterol diet plus lovastatin. At the end, blood samples were taken from all animals, and the serum concentrations of blood lipids were determined by the spectrophotometric method.

Findings: The results showed that the serum concentrations of total cholesterol, LDL-C, and TG of the groups treated with lovastatin and extract were significantly reduced compared to high cholesterol group (P<0/001). The serum levels of VLDL, the ratio of serum concentrations of HDL / LDL, and HDL / CHin the groups treated with the extracts were higher, compared to the group with high cholesterol diet group (P<0/001).

Discussion & Conclusions: The findings of this study showed that the borage extract has been effective in the concentration of the blood lipid in hyperlipidemic mice. Probably borage extract with lipid lowering effect is benefitial in treatment or prevention of hyperlipidemia.