Preliminary Evaluation Of Monacolin K Free Red Yeast Rice On Lipid Metabolism In Hamsters

Recently,people become more and more interested in red yeast rice at the potential using value.A number of studies have shown that the content of Monacolin K in red yeast rice is relatively low,but it has the function to improve the hyperlipidemia of animal.So,some active ingredients of the red yeast rice may make an improvement in hyperlipidemia.The study was to evaluate the effect of Monacolin K free red yeast rice on lipid metabolism in hamsters.In the study,hamsters were divided into three groups randomly,including blank control group(n=10)5 model control group(n=10)and Monacolin K free Monascus group(n=10).Blood was collected from the orbital venous plexus every two weeks and hamsters were dissected after eight weeks.Serum lipid level,total cholesterol and triglyceride level in liver tissue were measured,and pathological sections of liver tissue were made to observe its histomorphology.Finally,the mechanism was analyzed by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(RT-qPCR)and other molecular techniques.The results showed that the hyperlipideuia of hamster model could be induced by high fat diet for two weeks.High fat diet could increase the weight of hamsters(p<0.05),but the Monacolin K free red yeast rice could decrease the weight of hamsters(p<0.05).The weight of adipose tissue was increased by high fat diet(p<0.05).Serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase(ALT)and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase(AST)levels showed that Monacolin K free red yeast rice did not damage to liver tissue.Monacolin K free Monascus rice reduced the content of serum TC(p<0.05)and LDL-C(p<0.05).The atherosclerosis index increased after high fat diet induction(p<0,01),but Monacolin K free red yeast rice decreased significantly(p<0.05).The results of TC and TG showed that Monacolin K free red yeast rice had no improvement on cholesterol and triglyceride in liver tissue.The analysis of RT-qPCR showed that in terms of genes related to cholesterol synthesis and catabolism,under the influence of Monacolin K free red yeast rice,the expression of HMGCR and CYP7A1 decreased(p<0.05),LXR-α(p<0.05)was increased,but the level of SREBP-2 mRNA and LDLR mRNA was not affected.In terms of genes related to triglyceride synthesis and catabolism,Monacolin K free red yeast rice the expression levels of MTTP mRNA and SCD-1 were increased(p<0.05)and APO was decreased(p<0.05),but SREBP-1c and ACC-1 were not affected.