Triterpenic Acids Present in Hawthorn Lower Plasma Cholesterol by Inhibiting Intestinal ACAT Activity in Hamsters

Table 4

Plasma and lipoprotein lipid concentrations (mmol/L) of hamsters fed the control and treatment diets.

Plasma lipids	Diets
	Control	Hawthorn	PSE	Hawthorn + PSE	OA + UA
TC	5.85 ± 0.21	5.84 ± 0.19 (0%)	5.56 ± 0.19 (−5%)	4.93 ± 0.19 (−16%)*	5.39 ± 0.18 (−8%)
Non-HDL-C	2.08 ± 0.12	1.92 ± 0.10 (−8%)*	1.90 ± 0.08 (−9%)*	1.64 ± 0.10 (−21%)*	1.96 ± 0.08 (−6%)
HDL-C	3.51 ± 0.14	3.53 ± 0.14 (+1%)	3.40 ± 0.14 (−3%)	3.18 ± 0.12 (−9%)	3.27 ± 0.15 (−7%)
TAG	3.79 ± 0.40	3.56 ± 0.40 (−6%)	3.45 ± 0.35 (−9%)	3.19 ± 0.23 (−16%)	3.37 ± 0.36 (−11%)

Hamsters were fed diets as indicated in Table 3 for 4 weeks. At the end of the study, fasting (16 h) blood samples were collected and plasma total cholesterol (TC) and triacylglycerol (TAG) concentrations were determined enzymatically. Plasma lipoproteins (VLDL, LDL and HDL) were fractionated by density-ultracentrifugation. Cholesterol (-C) concentrations in HDL and non-HDL (VLDL + LDL) were measured enzymatically. Data are presented as means ± SE (n = 20 animals per group). Data in parentheses represent percentage difference compared to control group. Asterisk indicates that the value is significantly different from that of control (P < .05).