Abstract

The potentials of two tropical edible mushrooms: Pleurtotus tuber-regium andTermitomycetes clypeatus  in altering the plasma levels of some lipids in male albino rats fed high fat diets were investigated. Rats were randomly assigned to diet containing 20% fat, P. tuber-regium diet and T. clypeatus diet. Total body weight gain of rats fed mushroom diets were not significantly different (P>0.05) from one another. After a 28-day feeding trial, plasma total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides concentrations were found to be significantly lower (P<0.05) than control while high density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly higher (P<0.05). The implications of these findings highlight the hypolipidemic properties of the two tropical edible mushrooms.

Key words: Pleurotus tuber-regium, Termitomycetes clypeatus, lipoproteins, hypolipidemic property.