Comparison between Oral Administration of Kaempferia galanga Rhizome Extract and Simvastatin in Improving Lipid Profile of Dyslipidemic Male Wistar Rats

Introduction: Dyslipidemia has the potential to cause atherosclerosis which leads to cardiovascular disease. Kaempferia galanga rhizome is known to contain various components as antioxidants those affect on lipid profile improvement. This study aimed to determine the effect of Kaempferia galanga rhizome extract on improving the lipid profile of male Wistar rats with dyslipidemia. Methods: An experimental study with a randomized pretest-posttest control group design was conducted on 14 male Wistar rats, aged 2-2.5 months which suffered from dyslipidemia. Subjects were divided into two balanced groups, namely the control group (administrated with simvastatin 0.36mg) and the study group (administrated with Kaempferia galanga rhizome extract 100 mg) for 14 days. Lipid profiles were measured before and after treatment. The data were analyzed using a compare mean test. Results: The results showed no significant difference in total cholesterol levels between the two groups pretest (p = 0.336) and posttest (p = 0.038) , triglycerides between the two groups pretest (p = 0.447) and posttest (p =0.923), LDL between the two groups pretest (p = 0.515) and posttest (p = 0.052), and HDL between the two groups pretest (p = 0.354) and after posttest (p = 0.574). Although there was significant difference in p-total cholesterol values in the two groups pretest and posttest, the pre-post mean difference between the two groups showed no significant difference from the difference between pre-post total cholesterol (p = 0.117). Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that there was a significant improvement in the lipid profile with both Kaempferia galanga rhizome extract and simvastatin. The improvement in lipid profile was not significantly different from the administration of Kaempferia galanga rhizome extract or simvastatin.