Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Functional Foods, Beijing Union University, Beijing, P. R. China.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2012 May;56(5):681-90. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201100799.
The elevated plasma cholesterol level, in particular, LDL cholesterol is regarded as an important risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. A number of studies provide the evidence that taurine has the efficient action to reduce plasma and liver cholesterol concentrations, especially to decrease VLDL and LDL cholesterol in hypercholesterolemia animal induced by high cholesterol diet. Cholesterol lowering effect of taurine is actually involved in the regulatory mechanism of cholesterol and bile acid homeostasis that mediated by CYP7A1, which has become a biomarker for cholesterol metabolism and itself is also regulated by several factors and nuclear receptors. This review summarizes the change of cholesterol concentration in metabolism observed in feeding studies of hypercholesterolemia animal dealing with taurine, and then, addresses the possible metabolic and molecular mechanisms of cholesterol lowering effect by taurine in three aspects, cholesterol clearance from blood circulation, bioconversion of cholesterol to bile acid in liver, and excretion of cholesterol and bile acid from intestine.
血浆胆固醇水平升高，特别是 LDL 胆固醇，被认为是动脉粥样硬化和冠心病发展的一个重要危险因素。许多研究提供了证据表明，牛磺酸具有降低血浆和肝脏胆固醇浓度的有效作用，特别是在高胆固醇饮食诱导的高脂血症动物中降低 VLDL 和 LDL 胆固醇。牛磺酸的降胆固醇作用实际上涉及胆固醇和胆汁酸动态平衡的调节机制，该机制由 CYP7A1 介导，CYP7A1 已成为胆固醇代谢的生物标志物，自身也受多种因素和核受体调节。本文综述了高脂血症动物喂养研究中观察到的胆固醇代谢中胆固醇浓度的变化，然后从三个方面阐述了牛磺酸降低胆固醇作用的可能代谢和分子机制，即从血液循环中清除胆固醇、肝脏中将胆固醇转化为胆汁酸，以及从肠道中排出胆固醇和胆汁酸。
