Yang Rui, Chen Dan, Chen Yanling, Ma Yage, Chen Chaoyin, Zhao Shenglan
Drug and food resources development laboratory, Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China.
Chemistry laboratory, Yunnan Institute of Tobacco Quality Inspection and Supervision, Kunming, China.
Front Pharmacol. 2025 Jan 16;15:1431649. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1431649. eCollection 2024.
This study aims to investigate the preventive effect of walnut oil as medicinal food on abnormal lipid metabolism and its influence on liver metabolites and intestinal flora.
The rat model of abnormal lipid metabolism was established by feeding high-fat diet and administering a high-fat emulsion via gavage. The rats were randomly assigned to one of the five groups: the normal group (ND), the model group (HFD), and three walnut oil intervention groups differing in dosage [low-dose (OL, 2.5 g/kg. BW/day), medium-dose (OM, 5 g/kg. BW/day) and high-dose (OH, 10 g/kg. BW/day)]. Modeling and administration were performed simultaneously for 10 weeks. After the last administration, the serum and organs of the animals were collected under anesthesia, and the organ index was analyzed. Serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured. A histopathological examination of the liver was performed, and the intestinal flora was detected by Illumina technology.
Compared to the ND group, the HFD group exhibited a significant increase in body weight and Lee's index. Compared to the HFD group, each walnut oil intervention group showed a relatively reduced degree of liver swelling and a significant decrease in fat vacuoles within the cytoplasm. Levels of TC, TG, LDL-C, activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were significantly decreased ( < 0.05), while HDL-C levels were increased ( < 0.05), along with a significant increase in the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) and a decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) content in serum. These findings indicated that walnut oil could improve the blood lipid profile in hyperlipidemia-model rats. The results of intestinal flora showed that at the genus level, there were significant increases in the relative abundance of and ( < 0.01) while significant decreases of and ( < 0.01) in the HFD group vs. the ND group. However, these flora changes were impeded although only ( < 0.05) in the OL group. Metabonomics analysis identified that a total of 19 potential biomarkers were screened out from the differential metabolites with |logFC| > 1, VIP > 1 and < 0.05.
Walnut oil can significantly prevent hyperlipidemia caused by high-fat diet. The mechanism is mainly through significantly reducing the content of MDA and the activities of ALT and AST, significantly increasing the activity of GSH-PX, and improving intestinal flora and liver metabolism.
本研究旨在探讨核桃油作为药食两用食物对脂质代谢异常的预防作用及其对肝脏代谢产物和肠道菌群的影响。
通过高脂饮食喂养和灌胃高脂乳剂建立大鼠脂质代谢异常模型。将大鼠随机分为五组：正常组（ND）、模型组（HFD）和三个不同剂量的核桃油干预组[低剂量组（OL，2.5 g/kg·体重/天）、中剂量组（OM，5 g/kg·体重/天）和高剂量组（OH，10 g/kg·体重/天）]。建模和给药同时进行10周。末次给药后，在麻醉状态下采集动物血清和脏器，分析脏器指数。检测血清总胆固醇（TC）、甘油三酯（TG）、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇（LDL-C）、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-C）。对肝脏进行组织病理学检查，采用Illumina技术检测肠道菌群。
与ND组相比，HFD组体重和Lee's指数显著增加。与HFD组相比，各核桃油干预组肝脏肿大程度相对减轻，细胞质内脂肪空泡显著减少。TC、TG、LDL-C水平、丙氨酸氨基转移酶（ALT）和天冬氨酸氨基转移酶（AST）活性显著降低（P<0.05），而HDL-C水平升高（P<0.05），血清中谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GSH-PX）活性显著升高，丙二醛（MDA）含量降低。这些结果表明核桃油可改善高脂血症模型大鼠的血脂谱。肠道菌群结果显示，在属水平上，HFD组与ND组相比，和相对丰度显著增加（P<0.01），而和相对丰度显著降低（P<0.01）。然而，这些菌群变化仅在OL组受到阻碍（P<0.05）。代谢组学分析确定从差异代谢产物中筛选出共19个潜在生物标志物（|logFC|>1、VIP>1且P<0.05）。
核桃油可显著预防高脂饮食所致高脂血症。其机制主要是通过显著降低MDA含量、ALT和AST活性，显著提高GSH-PX活性，改善肠道菌群和肝脏代谢。
