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Hypocholesterolemic Effects of Chitosan in Rats Fed with High Cholesterol Diet.
Author(s) -
Moon MinSun,
Lee HeeSun,
Kim Yangha
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.a1017-c
Subject(s) - chitosan , cholestyramine , cholesterol , cholic acid , chemistry , cholesterol 7 alpha hydroxylase , endocrinology , medicine , cholesterol lowering , food science , biochemistry
Chitosan, which has high in dietary fiber, is thought to have hypocholesterolemic effects. The present study was performed to further elucidate the hypocholesterolemic action of chitosan for their effects on the diet‐induced hypercholesterolemia in rats. Male Sprague‐Dawley rats (n=32) were fed with chitosan‐free diet (control), 5% cholestyramine, 2% or 5% chitosan for 4 weeks. Hypercholesterolemia was induced by adding 1% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid to all diets. No difference was found in food intake, body weight gain and food efficiency among groups. The chitosan treatments showed significant improvement in the plasma levels of total cholesterol (p<0.05), while the plasma triacylglyceride and HDL‐cholesterol levels were not significantly affected. The atherogenic index was decreased in the chitosan groups. The 2, 5% chitosan treatments increased the activity of cholesterol 7¥á‐hydroxylase (CYP7A1) by 1.23, 1.65 fold, respectively (p<0.05). These results suggest that chitosan account for the hypocholesterolemic effects by enhancement of CYP7A1 activity. * This work is supported by research grants from the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (M10510130005‐05N1013‐00500)