RESUMO
Jaboticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora), a Brazilian fruit, is a good source of dietary fiber and phenolic compounds, which are concentrated mainly in the peel. These compounds have been considered promising in prevention and treatment of hypercholesterolemia and hepatic steatosis. In this study, we investigated the effects of 4% jaboticaba peel powder (JPP) supplementation on cholesterol metabolism and hepatic steatosis in livers of rats fed a high-fat (HF) diet. The rats were fed a standard AIN-93M (control) diet or an HF diet containing 32% lard and 1% cholesterol, both with and without 4% JPP. The M. cauliflora peel composition revealed a low-lipid high-fiber content and phenolic compounds. The phenolic compounds in JPP, tentatively identified by high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) analysis, were confirmed to contain phenolic acids, flavonoids, and anthocyanins. Moreover, JPP presented significant antioxidant activity in vitro and was not cytotoxic to HepG2 cells, as determined by the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay. After 6 weeks of treatment, our results showed that JPP supplementation increased lipid excretion in feces, reduced serum levels of total cholesterol and nonhigh-density lipoprotein cholesterol, decreased serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity, and attenuated hepatic steatosis severity in rats fed the HF diet. Furthermore, JPP treatment downregulated expression of ACAT-1, LXR-α, CYP7A1, and ABCG5 genes. Therefore, jaboticaba peel may represent a viable dietary strategy to prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease as the JPP treatment alleviated hepatic steatosis through improvement of serum lipid profiles and modulation of mRNA expression of genes involved in cholesterol metabolism.