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Hawthorn Fruit Is Hypolipidemic in Rabbits Fed a High Cholesterol Diet¹

Zesheng Zhang, Walter K. K. Ho, Yu Huang^*, Anthony E. James, Lik Wang Lam and Zhen-Yu Chen

Department of Biochemistry, ^* Department of Physiology, Laboratory Animal Service Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, The People’s Republic of China

²To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: zhenyuchen{at}cuhk.edu.hk.

The present study examined the hypolipidemic activity of hawthorn fruit. New Zealand white rabbits were fed one of three diets, a reference diet with no cholesterol added (NC), a high cholesterol diet (1 g/100 g, HC) and a HC diet supplemented with 2 g/100 g hawthorn fruit powder (HC-H). After 12 wk, serum total cholesterol (TC) and triacylglycerols (TG) were 23.4 and 22.2% lower, respectively, in the hawthorn fruit group compared with the HC rabbits (P < 0.05). Hawthorn supplementation led to 50.6% less cholesterol accumulation in aorta (P < 0.05) and 23–95% greater excretion of neutral and acidic sterols (P < 0.05). Supplementation of hawthorn fruit did not affect the activities of hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA-R) or cholesterol 7-hydroxylase (CH) but it suppressed the activity of intestinal acyl CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT, P < 0.05). The results suggest that the mechanism by which hawthorn fruit decreases serum cholesterol involves, at least in part, the inhibition of cholesterol absorption mediated by down-regulation of intestinal ACAT activity.

KEY WORDS: • cholesterol • Crataegus pinnatifida • hawthorn fruit • rabbits • triglycerides

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