The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510280, China.
Department of Cardiology, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou 510317, China.
J Agric Food Chem. 2021 Sep 8;69(35):10114-10120. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.1c03160. Epub 2021 Aug 25.
Our previous study showed that lycopene reduced the absorption of cholesterol in Caco-2 cells through inhibiting Niemann-Pick C1-Like 1 (NPC1L1) expression. Herein, we aimed to explore whether lycopene supplementation can decrease cholesterol absorption in the intestine and prevent atherosclerosis progression in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE) mice. Male ApoE mice were fed a high-fat diet with or without lycopene for 19 weeks. Supplementation of lycopene markedly lowered serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. Additionally, serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were increased after lycopene administration. Lycopene also downregulated the expression of NPC1L1 and hepatocyte nuclear factor-1α (HNF-1α) in the small intestine. Furthermore, the Oil Red O staining of the aorta and aortic sinus showed that lycopene supplementation remarkably reduced atherosclerotic lesions. These results indicated that lycopene inhibited intestinal cholesterol absorption and protected against HFD-induced atherosclerosis through inhibiting HNF-1α and NPC1L1 expression. Lycopene exhibits a potential antiatherosclerotic effect through suppressing intestinal cholesterol absorption.
我们之前的研究表明，番茄红素通过抑制 Niemann-Pick C1-Like 1（NPC1L1）的表达，减少了 Caco-2 细胞对胆固醇的吸收。在此，我们旨在探讨番茄红素补充是否可以减少肠道内胆固醇的吸收，并预防高脂肪饮食（HFD）喂养的载脂蛋白 E 基因敲除（ApoE）小鼠的动脉粥样硬化进展。雄性 ApoE 小鼠喂食高脂肪饮食，或同时喂食高脂肪饮食和番茄红素，共 19 周。番茄红素的补充显著降低了血清总胆固醇和低密度脂蛋白胆固醇（LDL-C）水平。此外，番茄红素给药后血清高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-C）水平升高。番茄红素还下调了小肠中 NPC1L1 和肝细胞核因子-1α（HNF-1α）的表达。此外，主动脉和主动脉窦的油红 O 染色显示，番茄红素补充显著减少了动脉粥样硬化病变。这些结果表明，番茄红素通过抑制 HNF-1α和 NPC1L1 的表达，抑制肠道胆固醇吸收，预防 HFD 诱导的动脉粥样硬化。番茄红素通过抑制肠道胆固醇吸收，显示出潜在的抗动脉粥样硬化作用。
