Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BHNRC) » Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center » Diet, Genomics and Immunology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #290295
Title: Cholesterol-lowering activity of soy-derived glyceollins in the golden Syrian hamster model

Author
item HUANG, HAIQIU - University Of Maryland
item XIE, ZHUOHONG - University Of Maryland
item Boue, Stephen
item Bhatnagar, Deepak
item Yokoyama, Wallace - Wally
item YU, L - University Of Maryland
item Wang, Thomas - Tom

Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/22/2013
Publication Date: 5/22/2013
Citation: Huang, H., Xie, Z., Boue, S.M., Bhatnagar, D., Yokoyama, W.H., Yu, L.L., Wang, T.T. 2013. Cholesterol-lowering activity of soy-derived glyceollins in the golden Syrian hamster model. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 61(24):35772-5782.

Interpretive Summary: Hypercholesterolemia is one of the major factors contributing to cardiovascular conditions, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in developed countries. Consumption of soy foods has been recognized to lower the risk of CVD, and phytochemicals in soy may contribute to soy’s health benefits. Glyceollin is one of the candidate phytochemicals in stressed soy that may account for many unique biological activities. In this study, the in vivo cholesterol lowering effect of glyceollins was investigated. Male golden Syrian hamsters were fed diets containing 1) 36 kcal% fat diet, 2) 36 kcal% fat diet + 25 mg/kg diet glyceollins, or 3) chow for 28 days. Hepatic cholesterol esters and free cholesterol, hepatic total lipid content, plasma lipoproteins, fecal bile acid, fecal total cholesterol, and cholesterol metabolism related gene expressions were measured. We found that glyceollins supplementation led to significant reduction of plasma VLDL, hepatic cholesterol esters, and total lipid content. Consistent with changes in circulating cholesterol, glyceollins supplementation also altered expression of genes related to cholesterol metabolism in liver. In contrast, no change of plasma LDL and HDL, and fecal bile acid or cholesterol content was observed. The cholesterol lowering activity of glyceollins appeared not to have occurred through increase of bile excretion. Our results supported glyceollins’ role as a novel soy-derived, cholesterol lowering, phytochemical that may contribute to soy’s health promoting effects. This work will benefit basic, as well as translational research science.

Technical Abstract: Hypercholesterolemia is one of the major factors contributing to the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading cause of death in the developed countries. Consumption of soy foods has been recognized to lower the risk of CVD, and phytochemicals in soy may contribute to the health benefits. Glyceollin is one of the candidate phytochemicals in stressed soy that may account for many unique biological activities. In this study, the in vivo cholesterol lowering effect of glyceollins was investigated. Male golden Syrian hamsters were fed diets containing 1) 36 kcal% fat diet, 2) 36 kcal% fat diet containing 25 mg/kg diet glyceollins, or 3) chow for 28 days. Hepatic cholesterol esters and free cholesterol, hepatic total lipid content, plasma lipoproteins, fecal bile acid, fecal total cholesterol, and cholesterol metabolism related gene expressions were measured. Glyceollins supplementation led to significant reduction of plasma VLDL, hepatic cholesterol esters and total lipid content. Consistent with changes in circulating cholesterol, glyceollins supplementation also altered expression of the genes related to cholesterol metabolism in liver. In contrast, no change in plasma LDL and HDL, and fecal bile acid or cholesterol content was observed. The cholesterol lowering activity of glyceollins appeared not association with the increase of bile excretion. These results supported glyceollins’ role as a novel soy-derived cholesterol lowering phytochemical that may contribute to soy’s health effects.