Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
J Med Food. 2009 Oct;12(5):973-81. doi: 10.1089/jmf.2009.0037.
To reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) by reducing circulating cholesterol concentrations, much attention has been focused on the search for dietary interventions for hypercholesterolemia. Corni Fructus is known to exhibit several biological activities. Therefore, in the present study, its protective effect on diet-induced hypercholesterolemia was studied using a rat model fed 1% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid. Corni Fructus extract was administered at an oral dose of 50, 100, or 200 mg/kg of body weight/day for 10 days. The administration inhibited the elevation of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In addition, it lowered serum total cholesterol levels with a decrease in esterified cholesterol. Moreover, the atherogenic index was decreased in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting its protective role against CVD through regulating cholesterol and lipoprotein levels. The hepatic levels of total and free cholesterol were also reduced by Corni Fructus. This implies that free cholesterol was used for catabolism or efflux. Consequently, the levels of total cholesterol and bile acid in feces were significantly increased. Our present results also showed that the administration of Corni Fructus decreased lipid peroxidation, suggesting a protective effect against oxidative stress induced by hypercholesterolemia. Furthermore, hypercholesterolemic control rats had significantly lower expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-2 protein without any difference in SREBP-1 protein expression. On the other hand, the protein expression of SREBP-2 was significantly up-regulated by Corni Fructus. Furthermore, the protein expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha was elevated, indicating that Corni Fructus would activate fatty acid oxidation. In conclusion, Corni Fructus may protect against CVD by regulating blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and expression of proteins related to lipid metabolism.
为了降低心血管疾病（CVD）的风险，降低循环胆固醇浓度，人们非常关注寻找治疗高胆固醇血症的饮食干预措施。众所周知，山茱萸具有多种生物学活性。因此，本研究采用喂食 1%胆固醇和 0.5%胆酸的大鼠模型，研究了其对饮食诱导的高胆固醇血症的保护作用。山茱萸提取物以 50、100 或 200mg/kg 体重/天的口服剂量给药 10 天。该给药抑制了收缩压和舒张压的升高。此外，它降低了血清总胆固醇水平，同时降低了酯化胆固醇。此外，动脉粥样硬化指数呈剂量依赖性降低，表明其通过调节胆固醇和脂蛋白水平对 CVD 具有保护作用。山茱萸还降低了肝总胆固醇和游离胆固醇水平。这意味着游离胆固醇被用于分解代谢或外排。因此，粪便中总胆固醇和胆汁酸的水平显著增加。我们目前的结果还表明，山茱萸的给药降低了脂质过氧化，表明其对高胆固醇血症引起的氧化应激具有保护作用。此外，高胆固醇血症对照组大鼠的固醇调节元件结合蛋白（SREBP）-2 蛋白表达显著降低，而 SREBP-1 蛋白表达无差异。另一方面，山茱萸显著上调了 SREBP-2 蛋白的表达。此外，过氧化物酶体增殖物激活受体α的蛋白表达升高，表明山茱萸会激活脂肪酸氧化。总之，山茱萸可能通过调节血压、胆固醇水平和与脂质代谢相关的蛋白质表达来预防 CVD。
