| Institution: | 1. Department of Chemical Biology, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA;2. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Agro-Food Processing, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, People''s Republic of China;3. Department of Food Science and Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, People''s Republic of China;4. College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, People''s Republic of China;5. State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization School of Tea & Food Science, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui, People''s Republic of China;6. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA;7. Department of Chemistry & Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA |
| Abstract: | ObjectiveTo investigate and compare the effects of two common dietary phytosterols, stigmasterol and β-sitosterol, in altering lipid metabolism and attenuating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).MethodsStigmasterol and β-sitosterol were administered to mice at 0.4% in a high-fat western-style diet (HFWD) for 17?weeks.ResultsStigmasterol and β-sitosterol significantly ameliorated HFWD-induced fatty liver and metabolic abnormalities, including elevated levels of hepatic total lipids, triacylglycerols, cholesterol and liver histopathology. Both phytosterols decreased the levels of intestinal bile acids, accompanied by markedly increased fecal lipid levels. In addition, they altered the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism. β-Sitosterol was less effective in affecting most of these parameters. Lipidomic analysis of liver and serum samples showed that stigmasterol prevented the HFWD-induced elevation of some di- and triacylglycerol species and lowering of some phospholipid species. Stigmasterol also decreased serum levels of ceramides.ConclusionStigmasterol and β-sitosterol, at a dose corresponding to that suggested for humans by the FDA for lowering cholesterol levels, are shown to alleviate HFWD-induced NAFLD. Stigmasterol was more effective than β-sitosterol, possibly because of its suppression of hepatic lipogenic gene expression and modulation of circulating ceramide levels. |
