Capsaicinoids are the active ingredients in chili pepper. The present study was to investigate the effect of dietary capsaicinoids on functionality of blood vessel, metabolism of cholesterol as well as gene expression of transporters, enzymes and receptors involved in cholesterol homeostasis. In brief, male  hamsters were divided into five groups and fed diets containing 0%, 0.010%, 0.015%, 0.020% and 0.030% capsaicinoids. It was found that capsaicinoids lowered serum total cholesterol (TC), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) and triacylglycerols (TAG) with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol being unchanged. Capsaicinoids decreased the atherosclerotic plaque in the four experimental groups compared with the control hamsters. Results on fecal analysis showed that capsaicinoids not only increased the excretion of total neutral sterols but also decreased the ratio of serum campesterol : cholesterol, indicating it decreased cholesterol absorption. In addition, capsaicinoids increased the fecal acidic sterol excretion possibly mediated by up-regulation of cholesterol 7a-hydroxylase and down-regulation of liver X receptor alpha. Capsaicinoids could improve the endothelium-dependent relaxations and reduce the endothelium-dependent contractions by inhibiting the gene expression of COX-2 with COX-1 expression being unaltered. It was concluded that capsaicinoids were beneficial in improving lipoprotein profile and aortic function.

Effect of capsaicinoids on the metabolism of cholesterol and endothelial function

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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