Red yeast rice increases excretion of bile acids in hamsters.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the hypocholesterolemic activity of red yeast rice (RYR) and its underlying mechanism. METHODS: Three groups of hamsters were fed either the control diet or one of the two experimental diets containing by weight 0.1% RYR (0.1RYR) or 0.3% RYR (0.3RYR). Blood (0.5 mL) was collected from the retro-orbital sinus into a heparinized capillary tube at the end of week 0, 3, and 6. Plasma lipoproteins were measured using enzymatic kits, while fecal neutral and acidic sterols were quantified using a gas-liquid chromatography. RESULTS: Plasma total cholesterol was reduced by 12% in 0.1RYR group and by 18% in 0.3RYR group compared with the control value. Similarly, plasma triacylglycerol was decreased by 11% in 0.1RYR group and by 24% in 0.3RYR group. Western blotting analysis demonstrated that RYR had no effect on sterol regulatory element binding protein 2, liver X receptor, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutary-CoA reductase, LDL receptor, and cholesterol-7alpha-hydroxylase. HPLC analysis confirmed that RYR contained 0.88% monacolin K. It was recently found that RYR supplementation increased excretion of fecal acidic sterols by 3-4 folds compared with the control value. CONCLUSION: Hypocholesterolemic activity of RYR is mediated at least partially by enhancement of acidic sterol excretion.

Conjugated and non-conjugated octadecaenoic acids affect differently intestinal acyl coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferase activity.

We investigated the relative hypocholesterolemic activity of linoleic acid (LA), conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), alpha-linolenic acid (LN) and conjugated linolenic acid (CLN) in hamsters. Five groups of hamsters (n=10 each) were fed either the control diet or one of the four fatty acids-supplemented diets for 6 weeks. Results demonstrated that the four octadecaenoic acids decreased plasma cholesterol differently, with CLA being the most effective. Western blotting and RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that the four octadecaenoic acids had no effect on sterol regulatory element binding protein-2 (SREBP-2), liver X receptor (LXR), 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutary-CoA reductase (HMGR), LDL receptor (LDLR), and cholesterol-7alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1). However, the four octadecaenoic acids increased the excretion of fecal neutral sterols with CLA being most effective followed by LN, LA and CLN, suggesting they all differentially affect cholesterol absorption. Dietary CLA was associated with the least intestinal acyl coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) activity followed by LN, LA and CLN in a decreasing trend. Since esterification of cholesterol is catalyzed by intestinal ACAT, and is a rate-limiting step in cholesterol absorption, it was concluded that the varying effects of CLA, LN, LA and CLN on blood cholesterol were mediated, at least in part, by their inhibition on intestinal ACAT activity.

Both soybean and kudzu phytoestrogens modify favorably the blood lipoprotein profile in ovariectomized and castrated hamsters.

The present study compared the hypolipidemic activity of kudzu phytoestrogens with that of soybean phytoestrogen in estrogen- and androgen-deficient hamsters. In the first experiment, ovariectomized hamsters (n = 37) were randomly divided into four groups (n = 9-10 each group). The first group was the control group, whereas the second group had the time-releasing estradiol-17beta subcutaneous (pellet) implants as a positive control. The third and fourth groups were orally administered soybean or kudzu phytoestrogen extracts (30 mg/kg of body weight) per day. In the second experiments, the first group of male hamsters (n = 9) received a sham operation, whereas the other three groups of male hamsters (n = 9 each) were castrated. The castrated control group received orally distilled water, whereas the second and third castrated groups were orally given 30 mg/kg soybean or kudzu phytoestrogen extracts. The results for the first experiment showed that the ovariectomized hamsters orally given soybean and kudzu phytoestrogen extracts had significantly decreased serum total cholesterol (TC) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) with HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) being unaffected. The data from the second experiment demonstrated that administration of soybean but not kudzu phytoestrogen extracts decreased significantly serum TC. However, administration of kudzu phytoestrogens caused redistribution of cholesterol among lipoproteins, leading to a significant decrease in the ratio of non-HDL-C to HDL-C. It was concluded that both soybean and kudzu phytoestrogens could modify favorably lipoprotein profiles in ovariectomized and castrated hamsters.

Comparison of antioxidant activity and bioavailability of tea epicatechins with their epimers.

Canned and bottled tea drinks contain not only green tea epicatechins (GTE), namely (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG), (-)-epigallocatechin (EGC) and (-)-epicatechin (EC), but also four GTE epimers, namely (-)-gallocatechin gallate (GCG), (-)-catechin gallate (CG), (-)-gallocatechin (GC) and (-)-catechin (C). In the present study we examined the antioxidant activity and bioavailability of these epimers compared with their corresponding precursors. The epimerisation reaction was induced by autoclaving GTE extract derived from longjing green tea at 120 degrees C for 20 min. Isolation and purification of each GTE and epimer were accomplished by various column chromatographic and semi-preparative HPLC techniques. The antioxidant activity of each epimer with its corresponding GTE precursor was conducted in the three in vitro systems, namely human LDL oxidation, ferric reducing-antioxidant power (FRAP), and anti-2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical assays. The results of all three assays demonstrated that CG had similar antioxidant activity with its precursor ECG, while GC was less potent as an antioxidant than its precursor EGC. Regarding EGCG and GCG, the antioxidant potency was similar for both LDL oxidation and DPPH free radical assays, but GCG was statistically less effective than EGCG in the FRAP assay. For EC and C, the latter had less anti-free radical activity in the DPPH assay, but in LDL oxidation and FRAP assays the antioxidant activity was similar. Oral and intravenous dosing of GTE-epimer mixture led to increase in total plasma antioxidant capacity in rats. In general, both epicatechins and epimers had low bioavailability (0.08-0.31) and most of the observed differences between epicatechins and their corresponding epimers were small, even if they were statistically significant in some cases. It was concluded that the epimerisation reaction occurring in manufacturing canned and bottled tea drinks would not significantly affect antioxidant activity and bioavailability of total tea polyphenols.

Preferential incorporation of trans, trans-conjugated linoleic acid isomers into the liver of suckling rats.

The present study was designed to compare the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomeric distribution pattern in the liver of suckling rats in relation to those in the milk and maternal diet. Silver-ion HPLC was used to separate individual CLA isomers. It was found that the isomeric distribution pattern in the milk was very similar to that in the maternal dietary fat. However, the CLA isomeric distribution patterns in the liver phospholipids (PL) and triacylglycerols were different from those in the diet and milk. In the liver PL, total cisltrans isomers accounted for 63.6-63.9% of total CLA, which was in contrast to the values of 88.1-89.1% in the milk and diet. In the liver PL, total transltrans isomers were 20.6-20.8% of the total CLA isomers whereas they were only 2.6-3.7% in the milk and diet. It is concluded that trans/trans-CLA were preferentially incorporated into the liver whereas for the incorporation of cis/trans-CLA there was partial discrimination.