Relationship of coffee consumption with risk factors of atherosclerosis in rats.
OBJECTIVE
In experimental animals we investigated the relationship of coffee consumption with risk factors of atherosclerosis such as cholesterol, homocysteine, oxidative stress and inflammatory cytokines.


METHODS
Forty-eight male Wistar rats were assigned to 3 treatment groups (a control diet group, 0.62% coffee diet group, and 1.36% coffee diet group), and animals were maintained on the experimental diets for 140 days.


RESULTS
Coffee diets led to an increase in the caffeine concentration to 0.53 +/- 0.11 and 1.77 +/- 0.22 microg/ml, respectively, although caffeine in serum was not detected in rats fed the control diet. It also led to slightly increased total serum levels of homocysteine and cholesterol, but no significant differences were found between the control and coffee diet groups. Coffee intake did not affect the production of IL-6 and TNF-alpha induced by LPS, which contributes to the atheroma-promoting effect of recurrent bacterial infection. Regarding the biomarkers of oxidative stress, the serum level of 15-isoprostane F(2t), which was significantly increased by LPS injection, was not altered by coffee intake. In contrast, urinary 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine was significantly increased in the coffee diet groups (p < 0.05). On the other hand, serum glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity tended to decrease in the coffee groups compared with the control group, but no significant difference was found between the control and coffee diet groups. Interestingly, a significant negative correlation was observed between GPx activity and homocysteine levels in the sera from control and coffee diet groups (r = -0.403, p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
This report is the first animal study on the relationship of coffee consumption with risk factors for atherosclerosis. From these results, we conclude that moderate coffee intake is not a risk factor for atherogenesis.
Sakamoto
Wataru
W
Department of Biochemistry, School of Dentistry, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. sakamoto@den.hokudai.ac.jp
Isomura
Haruo
H
Fujie
Katsutoshi
K
Takahashi
Kazuhiko
K
Nakao
Kei
K
Izumi
Hiroshi
H
D000080242:8-Hydroxy-2'-Deoxyguanosine; D000818:Animals; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D002110:Caffeine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000097:blood; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D003069:Coffee / Q000009:adverse effects; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D003849:Deoxyguanosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000652:urine; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D028441:F2-Isoprostanes / Q000097:blood; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012307:Risk Factors; D012964:Sodium / Q000652:urine; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis
D003069:Coffee; D016207:Cytokines; D028441:F2-Isoprostanes; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D006710:Homocysteine; D002110:Caffeine; D000080242:8-Hydroxy-2'-Deoxyguanosine; D002784:Cholesterol; D012964:Sodium; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D003849:Deoxyguanosine