Back ground: Hyperlipidaemia, characterized by elevation of one or more lipid types in blood, is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and stroke. Management of hyperlipidaemia is helpful to control the fatal outcome of cardiovascular diseases. This experimental study was done to observe the effects of pulp of Ficus carica fruit on lipid profile in induced hyperlipidemic rats in comparison to atorvastatin.

Methodology: The duration of study was 12 weeks. In this study forty male rats were taken and divided into four groups. One group was normal control which was given normal diet throughout study period of 12 weeks. The second group was positive control which was given high fat diet for 12 weeks. The remaining two groups were experimental groups which were given high fat diet for 12 weeks. Hyperlipidaemia was induced after giving high fat diet for first four weeks to the experimental groups. The pulp of Ficus carica fruit and atorvastatin was then added to diet of two experimental groups respectively in addition to high fat diet for the next 8 weeks. Body weight, fasting lipid profile, LDL/HDL ratio and AIP were measured at baseline, 4th, 8th, and 12th week of study.

Results: Pulp of Ficus carica fruit significantly improved fasting lipid profile, AIP and LDL/HDL ratio. HDL was also significantly increased. However there was no change in body weight.

Conclusion: Ficus carica fruit has marked antihyperlipidemic properties comparable to standard drug atorvastatin.

Key words: Hyperlipidaemia, ethanolic extract, pulp, Ficus carica