Summary.

Aim: We investigated effects of lentil on serum lipemia and cardiovascular indexes in cholesterol-
fed rats. Methods: Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned into 2 groups fed diets with or without cho-
lesterol. Diets contained casein, raw dehulled lentil, raw whole lentil, cooked dehulled lentil or cooked whole
lentil and given to rats for 4 weeks. Serum total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-
C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglycerides (TG) were quantified and other biologists-
cal parameters were assessed. Atherogenic indexes including atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), cardiac risk
ratio (CRR), atherogenic coefficient (AC), HDL-C/LDL-C and TC/TG were then calculated. Results: Who-
lesterol induced marked atherogenic lipemia indicated by increased LDL-C and decreased HDL-C/LDL-C.
Lentil increased (p<0.05) HDL-C and thus TC and TC/TG, and decreased (p<0.05) TG and AIP, while
other lipid variables or indexes were unaffected. This effect was more evident on AIP and TC/TG than lipid
variables with little or no effect for different lentil diets. In all rats, lipid indexes showed mutual correlations
clearly reflecting their lipid fractions and lentil-induced changes. AIP inversely linked to TC/TG (r=-0.901,
p<0.0001) and both did not correlate with AC, CRR or HDL-C/LDL-C, though AC directly correlated to
CRR (r=0.995, p<0.0001) and both inversely associated with HDL-C/LDL-C (r=-0.669, p<0.0001). I conclude-
sions: Results suggest that lentil reduces AIP and increases TC/TG seemingly through its beneficial effect on
TG and HDL-C regardless of its form or preparation method. AIP and TC/TG perhaps provide a more distinct
measure for cardioprotective effect of lentil than single lipid variables
Key words: atherogenic indexes, cardioprotective activity, cholesterol, dyslipidemia, lentil, rats