• Submit to IJMS Login Register
• MDPI
• Journals A-Z
• For Authors
• For Editors
• About
• Open Access Policy

• Abstract
• Full-Text PDF [143 KB]
• Full-Text XML
• Article Versions Notes

• Article Statistics
• PubMed/Medline
• Google Scholar
• Order Reprints

• Cite this article
• Export to BibTeX
• Export to EndNote

• [+] on DOAJ
• Kim, K
• Lee, O
• Han, C
• Kim, Y
• Hong, H
• [+] on Google Scholar
• Kim, K
• Lee, O
• Han, C
• Kim, Y
• Hong, H
• [+] on PubMed
• Kim, K
• Lee, O
• Han, C
• Kim, Y
• Hong, H

•  CiteULike
•  Facebook
•  Mendeley
•  Twitter

This article is

• freely available
• re-usable

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13(2), 1620-1631; doi:10.3390/ijms13021620

Article

Acidic Polysaccharide Extracts from Gastrodia Rhizomes Suppress the Atherosclerosis Risk Index through Inhibition of the Serum Cholesterol Composition in Sprague Dawley Rats Fed a High-Fat Diet

Kui-Jin Kim ^1,† , Ok-Hwan Lee ^2,† , Chan-Kyu Han ³ , Young-Chan Kim ³  and Hee-Do Hong ^3,*

¹ Department of Cancer and Cell Biology, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA ² Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, Korea ³ Korea Food Research Institute, Seongnam, Kyonggi 463-746, Korea ^† These authors contributed equally to this work.

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 5 January 2012; in revised form: 29 January 2012 / Accepted: 30 January 2012 / Published: 2 February 2012

(This article belongs to the Section Bioactives and Nutraceuticals)

Download PDF Full-Text [143 KB, uploaded 2 February 2012 16:55 CET]

Abstract: Obesity is associated with a broad spectrum of cardio-metabolic disturbances, including atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CDV). A high-fat diet has been shown to cause an elevation of the plasma cholesterol levels in humans, and the control of serum cholesterol has been demonstrated to be important in the prevention of CVD and atherosclerosis. The aims of this study were to demonstrate that crude and acidic polysaccharide extracts from Gastrodia rhizomes suppress atherosclerosis through the regulation of serum lipids in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats fed a high-fat diet. We examined the concentrations of serum lipids, including total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol, and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol, in SD rats fed a high-fat diet and evaluated the atherogenic index. Here, we show that both crude and acidic polysaccharide extracts from Gastrodia rhizomes inhibited the total cholesterol and LDL levels. Moreover, there was a significantly suppressed atherosclerosis risk due to the acidic polysaccharide extract from Gastrodia rhizome. Taken together, our results suggested that acidic polysaccharide extracts from Gastrodia rhizomes might be beneficial for lowering the incidence of CVD and atherosclerosis by reducing the de novo synthesis of total cholesterol and the LDL levels.

Keywords: Gastrodia rhizome; acidic polysaccharide; cardio vascular disease; atherogenic index

Article Statistics

Cite This Article