Introduction. There is a need for continual evaluation of the effective use of plant-based medicine as combination therapies as more therapeutic potentials are being associated with phytomedicine. The changes in the lipid and cardiac profile of adult Wistar rats following the co-administration of Cisplatin and methanolic extract of Portulaca oleracea (MEPO) were investigated.

Methods. Twenty-four (24) rats with an average weight of 154 kg were randomly divided into six (6) groups (A-F). Group A was given no treatment and served as the normal control group. Group B received only a cisplatin injection and served as the cisplatin control group. Group C and D were given 400mg/kg and 800 mg/kg MEPO six hours after cisplatin injection. Group E and F were administered 400mg/kg and 800 mg/kg MEPO 6 hours before cisplatin injection. All cisplatin injections were single-dose intraperitoneal injection (2 ml/kg) and MEPO administration lasted for 7 days. Animals were euthanized under diethyl ether anesthesia at the end of the experiment and blood collected for serum lipid profile investigations. Some cardiac and lipid parameters were estimated from standard formulae.

Results. There was a significant increase in the serum levels of TG and TC (p=0.01 and p < 0.001) and some estimated parameters – LDL, VLDL, CRR, HDL-LDL and TG-HDL (p<0.001, p=0.049, p<0.001, p<0.001 and p=0.001 respectively) while HTR was significantly decreased (p<0.001) due to cisplatin treatment. HDL and AI levels were unchanged by cisplatin treatment. MEPO significantly reversed (p<0.05) the cisplatin-induced changes in the serum lipid parameters (TG and TC) and estimated parameters (VLDL, CRR and TG-HDL) across all MEPO-treated groups.

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