Abstract: To investigate the effect of gypenosides on the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis by autophagosome.This study was divided into in vivo and in vitro experiment.In vivo,thirty healthy Apo E^-/- mice were randomly divided into three groups,namely model group,gypenosides group and simvastatin group,each group has ten mice.Ten C57BL/6J mice were control group.After the model preparation and the drug intervention was completed,the automatic biochemical analyzer was used to test the levels of serum lipids,and western blot was used to detect the expressions of atg3,Atg4c,Atg5 and Atg12 protein in the aorta of mice.In vitro,EA.Hy926 cells were cultured and were randomly divided into control group,model group,gypenosides group,ginsenoside GRb3 group and gypenoside XILX group.In addition,the western blot was used to detect the expressions of Atg3,Atg4c,Atg5 and Atg12 protein of autophagosomes form signaling pathways.The results showed that,gypenosides can reduce the levels of TG,TC and LDL-C (P<0.01),improve the level of HDL-C (P<0.01) in serum of Apo E^-/-  mice.Furthermore,gypenosides can increase the expression level of Atg3,Atg4c,Atg5 and Atg12 protein in the aorta of Apo E^-/-  mice (P<0.05 or P<0.01).Gypenosides,ginsenoside GRb3 and gypenoside XILX can increase the expression levels of Atg3,Atg4c,Atg5 and Atg12 in ox-LDL-induced EA.hy926 cells (P<0.01),in which the effect of gypenosides was the best.The above results showed that,gypenosides may protect EA.Hy926 cells against endothelial injury by promoting the formation of autophagosome,reducing the serum lipid level of Apo E^-/-  mice,and then play its biological role in the prevention and treatment of AS.Ginsenoside GRb3 and gypenoside XILX were possibly the active constituents of G.pentaphyllum in this process.

Key words: gypenosides, ginsenoside GRb3, gypenoside XILX, atherosclerosis, autophagosome