Coptis rhizoma was extracted with methanol or hot water. Methanol extracts had higher berberine content than water extracts, whereas the contents of Ca, Mg, Zn and K were higher in the water extracts. Rats were fed on the purified diets rich in 0.12% cholesterol only or supplemented with 0.5% of each extracts for four weeks. The concentration of total serum cholesterol was significantly lower in the rats given the extracts, irrespective of the extractants. Although the concentration of serum HDL-cholesterol was comparable among the groups, the ratio of HDL-/total-cholesterol was higher in rats given the extracts. The concentration of serum free fatty acids and ketone body were significantly elevated in rats given the extracts. On the other hand, the extracts supplements significantly decreased the contents of liver cholesterol and triacylglycerol. The amount of fecal bile acids was markedly higher in rats given the extracts, especially in those given water extracts. The results show an effective hypocholesterolemic action of Coptis rhizoma and it seems that the lower concentration of serum and liver cholesterol is resulted from the increased fecal bile acids in rats.