Abstract: To study the effect of emodin on lipid metabolism in zebrafish with hyperlipidemia.Five-day post fertilization Tg (fli1:eGFP) zebrafish were randomly divided into normal cholesterol diet group (NCD),high cholesterol diet group (HCD) and emodin groups (Emo).The NCD group was fed with normal diet.The HCD group was fed with high cholesterol diet.And the Emo groups were fed with high cholesterol diet and then were treated with different concentrations of emodin (0.125,0.25,0.5 μg/mL).After continuous feeding for 10 days,the survival rate,body weight,body length and BMI of zebrafish were observed.The accumulation of cholesterol in blood vessels was observed under laser confocal microscopy.The body fat content in zebrafish was investigated using total cholesterol (TC),triglyceride (TG),low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc) kits.The results showed that the body weight and body length of zebrafish in the HCD group were significantly increased (P<0.01).The levels of TC,TG,LDLc and cholesterol in the blood vessels were significantly increased (P<0.01).The survival rate and HDLc level decreased significantly (P<0.001).Treatment with emodin could improve the survival rate of zebrafish.The body weight,body length and cholesterol content of zebrafish in emodin groups significantly decreased (P<0.01).TC and LDLc levels of emodin groups decreased (P<0.01) and HDLc levels increased (P<0.05) in dosedependent manner.The findings suggested that emodin has an effect to attenuate the disorder of hyperlipidemia zebrafish lipid metabolism.

Key words: emodin, hyperlipidemia, zebrafish, lipid metabolism, atherosclerosis