Abstract
Previous reports demonstrated that hypocholesterolemic activity of apple was associated with its pectin and fiber. This report was to investigate the effect of apple polyphenols (AP) on blood cholesterol level and gene expression of cholesterol‐regulating enzymes in Golden Syrian hamsters maintained on a 0.1% cholesterol diet. It was found that dietary supplementation of 0.3 or 0.6% of AP did not affect plasma total cholesterol (TC), but it increased HDL cholesterol (HDL‐C) and decreased non‐HDL‐C, thus leading to a lower ratio of non‐HDL‐C to HDL‐C. Plasma total triacylglycerol (TG) level was also significantly reduced when hamsters were fed a diet supplemented with 0.6% AP. Western blot analysis did not find any effect of AP on sterol regulatory element‐binding protein 2 (SREBP‐2), LDL receptor (LDLR), 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR), and cholesterol‐7α‐hydroxylase (CYP7A). Most interesting was that supplementation of AP had no effect on protein abundance of plasma cholesteryl ester transport protein (CETP), but it suppressed plasma CETP activity. A series of in vitro assays confirmed that AP inhibited CETP in a dose dependent manner. It was concluded that AP favorably improved distribution of cholesterol in lipoproteins, most likely, by its inhibition on CETP activity.