1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Dietary Regulation of Development and Regression of Atherosclerosis in Apo E Deficient Mice
| Project/Area Number |
07456064
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Section | 一般 |
|---|
| Research Field |
食品科学・栄養科学
|
|---|
| Research Institution | KYUSHU UNIVERSITY |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
IMAIZUMI Katsumi Kyushu University, Agriculture, Professor, 農学部, 教授 (90037466)
|
|---|
| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SAKONO Masanobu Miyazaki University, Agriculture, Associate Professor, 農学部, 助教授 (70253515)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
1995 – 1997
|
| Keywords | apo E deficient mice / ExHC rats / soybean protein / arginine / methionine / serum cholesterol / artherosclerosis / nitric oxide |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
According to westernization of eating style of Japanese, atherosclerotic heart diseases are getting increased, hence it is desirable to find out eating habits to prevent the diseases. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of dietary proteins, using two animal models : ExHC rats exhibiting hypercholesterolemia in response to exogenous cholesterol and apo E deficient mice which develop atherosclertic lesions similar to humans.
ExHC rats, treated with hypervitamin D and then fed and atherogenic diet for 6 month, exhibited less atherosclerotic lesions when fed soybean protein in comparison with casein. These protein effects were subsequently investigated in apo E deficient mice fed diets with or without cholesterol. In both dietary conditions, the mice fed soybean protein had less lesions. Isoflabons which are an abundant components remaining in the soybean protein preparations were not responsible for the beneficial effects. The beneficial effects were reproduced in mice fed diets containing amino acid mixtures simulated to soybean protein. Since methionine and arginine are abundant in casein and soybean protein, respectively, these amino acids were supplemented to casein of soybean protein based diets, respectively. It was found that the addition of arginine to the casein diet effectively suppressed the lesion development, but the methionine to the soybean protein deit had no adverse effects. The arginine supplementation resulted in an elevation of serum metabolites of nitric oxides to the levels similar to rats fed soybean proteins. In any rats, serum cholesterol level was not correlated to the severity of the lesions.
These results demonstrate that dietary soybean protein effectively prevents the development of atherosclerotic lesion and suggest that amino acids or the metabolites derived from soybean protein exert ameliorating effects through direct action on arteries.
|
