Dietary intervention with AHP, a functional formula diet, improves both serum and hepatic lipids profile in...

Aurricularia aurricula, hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida), and Pueraria radix are well known for both traditional food and folk medicine. Each of the above 3 plants possesses a distinct pathway contributing to treat dyslipidemia. To develop a health-promoting diet against dyslipidemia, the polysaccharides from A. aurricula, polyphenol from hawthorn, and P. radix were combined to postulate as a functional formula diet (AHP) in the present study and its pharmaceutical effects and underlying mechanisms were elucidated in vivo. The dyslipidemia model associated with fatty liver was induced by cholesterol-enriched diet (CED) for up to 12 wk in male ICR mice. Mice were randomly divided into 5 groups, that is, regular diet (RD), CED, Xuezhikang treatment (positive control group, PG), low and high (150 or 450 mg/kg/d) of AHP treatment groups. Compared with the CED group, AHP groups maintained lipid profiles through lowering serum total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), inhibiting the accumulation of hepatic TC and triglyceride (TG). AHP could also improve both serum and hepatic biochemical activity profiles including antioxidant status, serum nitric oxide (NO), and hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutary CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase levels. Hepatic histopathological examinations showed markedly decreased fatty deposits in the liver of AHP-treated mice, illustrating the ability to reverse a condition of fatty liver. Our study indicated that this functional formula diet would be a potent alternative as a health-promoting diet, simultaneously targeting on the complexity and redundancy of dyslipidemia.