Dietary phytosterol does not accumulate in the arterial wall and prevents atherosclerosis of LDLr-KO mice

作者：Bombo Renata P A; Afonso Milessa S; Machado Roberta M; Ferrari Lavrador Maria Silvia; Nunes Valeria S; Quintao Eder R; Koike Marcia; Catanozi Sergio; Lin Chin Jia; Nakandakare Edna R; Lottenberg Ana Maria^*

来源：Atherosclerosis, 2013, 231(2): 442-447.

DOI：10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2013.10.015

• Phytosterol
• Cholesterol absorption
• LDLr-KO mice
• Atherosclerosis
• Diet

Scope: There have been conflicting reports on the usefulness of phytosterols (PS) in preventing atherosclerosis. We evaluated the effects of dietary PS supplementation in LDLr-KO male mice on the plasma and aorta sterol concentrations and on atherosclerotic lesion development.
Methods and results: Mice were fed a high fat diet (40% of energy) supplemented with or without PS (2% w/w, n = 10). Plasma and arterial wall cholesterol and PS concentrations, lesion area, macrophage infiltration, and mRNA expression from LOX-1, CD36, ABCA1 and ABCG1 in peritoneal macrophages were measured. After 16 weeks, the plasma cholesterol concentration in PS mice was lower than that in the controls (p = 0.02) and in the arterial wall (p = 0.03). Plasma PS concentrations were higher in PS-fed animals than in controls (p < 0.0001); however, the arterial wall PS concentration did not differ between groups. The atherosclerotic lesion area in the PS group (n = 5) was smaller than that in controls (p = 0.0062) and the macrophage area (p = 0.0007). PS correlates negatively with arterial lipid content and macrophage (r = -0.76; p < 0.05). PS supplementation induced lower ABCG1 mRNA expression (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: Despite inducing an increase in PS plasma concentration, PS supplementation is not associated with its accumulation in the arterial wall and prevents atherosclerotic lesion development.

• 出版日期2013-12