title: Hypocholesterolemic effect of dietary psyllium in female rats.
abstract: We fed cholesterol-enriched (1% cholesterol and 0.2% cholic acid) semipurified diets containing either 3% cellulose or psyllium to 2 groups of female Wistar rats for a period of 8 weeks. The feeding of the cholesterol-enriched semipurified diets resulted in a progressive increase in plasma cholesterol levels in both groups during the 8 weeks of the experiment. The rats fed psyllium, however, had significantly lower plasma cholesterol concentrations than the animals fed cellulose throughout the experimental period (at 8 weeks, 8.92 +/- 4.42 and 16.47 +/- 8 mmol/l, respectively, means +/- SD, n = 14, p < 0.01). Most of the plasma cholesterol in both groups at the end of the study was located in the very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) fraction (91%) and differences in total plasma cholesterol concentrations were predominantly reflected in differences in VLDL cholesterol. Plasma triglyceride concentrations were not significantly different between the 2 groups. Liver cholesterol concentrations paralleled the concentrations of plasma cholesterol and were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the psyllium-fed rats (90.31 +/- 13.81 micromol/g liver) than in the cellulose-fed rats (60.49 +/- 15.25 micromol/g liver). Substitution of psyllium for cellulose resulted in an increase in the excretion of fecal bile acids by 26%, and this increase was predominantly caused by an increased excretion of beta-muricholic acid and the bile acids derived from beta-muricholic acid (omega-muricholic acid and hyodeoxycholic acid).
authors.affiliation: Departments of Nutrition and Laboratory Animal Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. terpstra@las.vet.uu.nl
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Terpstra
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lapré
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Beynen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D015243:Cholesterol, VLDL / Q000097:blood; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D011620:Psyllium / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary; D015243:Cholesterol, VLDL; D008055:Lipids; D011620:Psyllium; D002784:Cholesterol