Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23983330›Full record

ArticleAfrican journal of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines : AJTCAM2012

The effect of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L) seeds and L-arginine supplementation on serum lipid concentrations in atherogenic rats.

Abuelgassim O Abuelgassim, Showayman I A Al-showayman

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in African journal of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines : AJTCAM, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 37% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Profiling HydrophilicPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Article
  3. Review
  4. International journal of food science · 2022
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Dose-response : a publication of International Hormesis Society
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Abuelgassim O AbuelgassimDepartment of Biochemistry, King Saud University P.O.Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. gassim@ksu.edu.sa
Showayman I A Al-showayman
King Saud University · SA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the effect of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seeds supplementation on atherogenic diet-induced atherosclerosis. Rat were divided into two main groups , normal control and atherogenic control rats , each group composed of three subgroups one of them supplemented with 2% arginine in drinking water and the other supplemented with pumpkin seeds in diet at a concentration equivalent to 2% arginine. Supplementation continued for 37 days. Atherogenic rats supplemented with pumpkin seeds showed a significant decrease (p<0.001) in their serum concentrations of total cholesterol and LDL - C as they dropped from 4.89 mmol / L to 2.55 mmol /L and from 3.33 mmol / L to 0.70 mmol / L respectively. Serum concentrations of HDL-C were also significantly elevated in the same group. Although, atherogenic rats supplemented with 2% arginine showed significant increase in serum concentration of HDL-C, no significant changes were observed in their serum concentrations of total cholesterol and LDL-C. Our results showed that treatment of atherogenic rats with pumpkin seeds significantly decreased serum concentrations of TC and LDL-C. Our findings suggest that pumpkin seeds supplementation has a protective effect against atherogenic rats and this protective effect was not attributed to the high arginine concentrations in pumpkin seeds.

Indexed as

CucurbitaDietary SupplementsPhytotherapySeedsAnimalsArginineAtherosclerosisCholesterolCholesterol, HDLCholesterol, LDLDiet, AtherogenicMalePlant PreparationsRats, WistarArginineCholesterolCholesterol, HDLCholesterol, LDLPlant PreparationsarginineatherosclerosischolesterolC-reactive proteinlow density lipoproteinnitric oxide

Identifiers

PMID23983330
PMCPMC3746528
OpenAlexW2122539274

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.