Hypocholesterolemic effect of crocetin on serum cholesterol in rats and the mechanism
ZHAO Bo-hua
QIAN Zhi-yu
CHEN Zhen
SHENG Liang
YANG Li-na
YAN Jun-ling
Abstract：Objective: To study the hypocholesterolemic mechanism of crocetin in rats with diet-induced hypercholesteremia. Methods: The hypercholesteremia was induced by feeding rats with high-cholesterol diet. The effect of crocetin on the levels of serum cholesterol, cholesterol absorption in jejunum, bile acid metabolism, and cholesterol excretion in feces were determined. The activity and mRNA levels of HMG-CoAR(3-hydroxy-3 methyl-glutaryl coenzyme A reductase), LCAT(lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase), 7α-hydroxylase(CYP7A1) were in-spected. The effects of the crocetin on endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis in HepG2 cells were also tested. Re-suits: Crocetin significantly reduced the level of serum TC (total cholesterol), LDL-C (low-density lipoprotein cho-lesterol), and increased HDL-C (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) in hypercholesteremic rats. The activities and mRNA level of LCAT and 7α-hydroxylase were significantly higher, but the activity and expression of HMG-CoAR were lower in crocetin group than in control group. Crocetin increased the content of bile acids in bile and fe-ces, but had no effect on the secretion of bile, cholesterol absorption in jejunum and cholesterol excretion in feces. Crocetin inhibited hepatic cholesterol biosynthesis in vitro. Conclusion: The hypocholesterolemie activity of croce-tin may be due to its inhibition of endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis and acceleration of cholesterol conversion to bile acids.
Keywords：crocetinhypercholesteremia3-hydroxy-3 methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoAR)lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase(LCAT)7α-hydroxylase(CYP7A1)
Publication Date：2009-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2026-08-14(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 1347-1351 )