Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2013, Article ID 263594, 10 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/263594 Research Article Efficiency of Barley Bran and Oat Bran in Ameliorating Blood Lipid Profile and the Adverse Histological Changes in Hypercholesterolemic Male Rats Haddad A. El Rabey, 1,2 Madeha N. Al-Seeni, 1 and Hanan M. Amer 3 1 Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2 Bioinformatics Department, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Research Institute, Minuiya University, P.O. Box 79, Sadat City, Egypt 3 Badreddin Clinic, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Correspondence should be addressed to Haddad A. El Rabey; elrabey@hotmail.com Received 19 March 2013; Revised 1 June 2013; Accepted 11 July 2013 Academic Editor: Anne Pihlanto Copyright © 2013 Haddad A. El Rabey et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. he eiciency of oat bran and barley bran in lowering the induced hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia in blood of male Albino rats (Rattus rattus) was studied. Twenty rats were divided into four groups each consisted of ive rats and fed the speciied test diets for eight weeks. he irst group (G1) is the negative group which was fed basal diet, the second group (G2) was fed 1.0% cholesterol, was the third group (G3) fed 1.0% cholesterol and 10% oats bran, and the fourth group (G4) was fed 1.0% cholesterol and 10% barley bran. Feeding rats on 1% cholesterol signiicantly increased serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, and very low density lipoprotein and triglyceride and decreased serum high density lipoprotein. Furthermore, enzyme activity of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase was increased, and lipid peroxide was increased, whereas catalase and glutathione-S-transferase were decreased. Kidney functions parameters in the cholesterol supplemented group were elevated compared with the negative control. In addition, histological alteration in kidney, liver, heart, and testes was observed, compared with the negative control. Hypercholesterolemic rats supplemented with oat bran and barley bran showed signiicant decrease in lipid parameters, signiicant increase in high density lipoprotein-cholesterol, improved antioxidant enzyme, and improved histopathology of kidney, liver, heart, and testes. In conclusion, both oat bran and barley bran had protective efects against induced hyperlipidemia and improved histological alterations. Oat bran appeared more eicient than barley bran in lowering the lipid proile levels in hypercholesterolemic rats. 1. Introduction Dietary or pharmacological reduction of total and low density lipoproteins (LDL) decreases the risk of coronary heart dis- eases (CHD) [1]. LDL is the major atherogenic lipoprotein, and numerous clinical trials have shown the eicacy of low- ering low density lipoproteins-cholesterol (LDL-C) for reduc- ing CHD risk [2]. Consumption of diets rich in whole grains has been reported to have beneicial health efects such as reducing the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and non- insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. hese results have been attributed to the efects of the iber content of whole-grain foods on risk factors of these diseases, including blood glucose, insulin, and cholesterol [3]. Numerous studies have demonstrated that whole grains that are high in soluble iber, such as oats and barley, are more efective in lowering blood cholesterol than grains in which ibers are predominantly insoluble, such as wheat or rice [4, 5]. Increasing dietary iber, which is a variety of plant subs- tances that are resistant to digestion by human gastroin- testinal enzymes, has been used for cholesterol reduction [6, 7]. Moreover, dietary ibers can be classiied into two major groups depending on their solubility in water in human body, and the structural or matrix ibers (lignins, cellulose,