The improvements of ankaflavin isolated from Monascus-fermented products on dyslipidemia in high-fat diet-induced hasmster

J Fun Food, (2013) 5: 434-443.

Wei-Hsuan Hsu, Yu-Chun Huang, Bao-Hong Lee, Ya-Wen Hsu, Tzu-Ming Pan

Ankaflavin (AK) is a yellow pigment isolated from Monascus-fermented product. The potential mechanism of AK-regulated dyslipidemia in high-fat diet hamsters was investigated. The results showed that AK treatment reduced plasma total cholesterol (TC) level in hamsters, elevated faecal TC and bile acid concentration, and protected high density apolipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) from diminishing. We further used hepatocytes to demonstrate that AK stabilized HDL levels via nuclear factor-erythroid 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) activation and downstream molecule haem oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression, as well as increasing liver x receptor-a (LXRa) mRNA level to promote ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABCA1) and apolipoprotein-A1 (apo-A1) expression. AK increased low density apolipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) expression to promote cholesterol absorption in hepatocytes, and resulted in cholesterol metabolism by cytochrome P450 7A1 (CYP7A1), leading to the conversion of cholesterol into bile acid. Taken together, AK may serve as a cholesterol lowering agent to improve dyslipidemia.

[血脂] 紅麴發酵分化物 AK 改善由高油脂飲食誘導倉鼠之血脂異常

AK 為紅麴發酵物黃色素分化物，AK 調控由高油脂誘發倉鼠血脂異常可能的機制已經被研究，結果顯示 AK 具減少倉鼠血清中 TC、提升糞便 TC 與膽酸濃度，並且保護 HDL-C 免於減少，我們甚至使用肝臟去探討 AK 維持 HDL 濃度透過活化 Nrf2與下游分子 HO-1 表現，同時也增加 LXRa mRNA 含量而促進 ABCA1 與 apo-A1表現，AK 增加 LDL-C 表現去促使肝臟對膽固醇的吸收並將膽固醇藉由 CYP7A1 轉換為膽酸進行代謝，由以上可得知，AK 可能可以做為降膽固醇試劑而改善血脂異常。