Abstract

Effects of starvation-refeeding conditions on cholesterol metabolism in rats fed high fat diet containing different fats

Author(s): Reiko Inai, Tatsuhiro Matsuo

The present study was performed to investigate the effects of starvationrefeeding conditions on cholesterol metabolism in rats fed high cholesterol/ high fat diets containing different fats. Forty female Donryu rats were divided into two groups and then fed a high fat diet containing beef tallow or corn oil without cholesterol for 14 days. After 14 days, the rats were divided into two sub-groups, cholesterol-free diet and high cholesterol diet subgroups. Half of the animals in all groups were fed the experimental diets for 3 days (feeding). The remaining half animals were fasted for 2 days followed by 3 days of refeeding (starvation-refeeding).Among the corn oil diet groups, no significantly differences were observed in the concentrations of plasma total cholesterol, cholesteryl ester, and non-HDL cholesterol. Starvation-refeeding significantly increased the plasma total cholesterol, cholesteryl ester, and non-HDLcholesterol concentrations in the high cholesterol, beef tallow diet-fed rats. The high cholesterol diet caused the plasma HDL cholesterol concentration to decrease significantly regardless of feeding conditions. Total hepatic cholesterol and cholesteryl ester were significantly higher in the high cholesterol groups than in the cholesterolfree groups in both beef tallow- and corn oil-fed rats. These results suggest that starvation-refeeding partially affects cholesterolmetabolismin rats fed high cholesterol/high fat diets containing either saturated or polyunsaturated fats.