Vasodilating dipeptide Trp-His can prevent atherosclerosis in apo E-deficient mice.
Most of the investigations for an alternative medicinal treatment on atherosclerosis have been focused on natural or dietary compounds including phytochemicals. So far, few studies regarding anti-atherosclerotic small peptides except for tetrapeptide of Lys-Arg-Glu-Ser have been reported. The present study was, thus, to investigate whether dipeptide Trp-His, which is one of vasodilating small peptides, could reduce atherosclerotic lesions in apo E-deficient mice fed a high-fat diet. The animal study involved a 9-week-successive administration of Trp-His at a dose of 0, 10 or 100 mg/kg per d. After 9-week administration, en face analyses provided the first direct evidence that the atherosclerotic lesion area was significantly reduced by 27 and 38 % for Trp-His dosed at 10 and 100 mg/kg per d, respectively, compared with the control group. Administration of Trp-His did not affect growth parameters such as body weight and feeding efficiency (P>0.1). Total serum cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol as well as lipid profiles in the liver did not differ between the tested groups. Taken together, the anti-atherosclerotic effect of dipeptide Trp-His should be addressed into physiological functions of bioactive peptides, in which the dipeptide may elicit the power by alternative mechanism(s), not by the regulation of lipid metabolism.
Matsui
Toshiro
T
Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Graduate School of Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan. tmatsui@agr.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Sato
Masao
M
Tanaka
Mitsuru
M
Yamada
Yasuna
Y
Watanabe
Shimpei
S
Fujimoto
Yumiko
Y
Imaizumi
Katsumi
K
Matsumoto
Kiyoshi
K
D000818:Animals; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000172:deficiency*; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D004151:Dipeptides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012850:Sinus of Valsalva / Q000473:pathology; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D004151:Dipeptides; D008055:Lipids; D009842:Oligopeptides; D014665:Vasodilator Agents; C509582:tryptophyl-histidine; D002784:Cholesterol