Abstract
The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of fermented chub mackerel extract (FCME) on lipid metabolism in rats fed diets without cholesterol. Four week-old male rats were divided into three groups of 10 rats with 0, 1% or 2% FCME supplementation to the diets. Purified diets were used in the present study. Feed and water were fed ad libitum. FCME supplementation had no effect on the activities of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, fatty acid synthetase, and the content of free cholesterol, triglyceride and phospholipid in the liver (p>0.05). 1% FCME supplementation significantly increased serum triglyceride (p<0.05) and hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase activity (p<0.05) with no effect on serum total cholesterol, free cholesterol and phospholipid concentration. FCME supplementation significantly reduced serum LDL+VLDL-cholesterol (p<0.01) and atherogenic index (p<0.01) with no effect on HDL-cholesterol. The current study showed that FCME inclusion might reduce the risk of atherosclerosis in rats fed diet without cholesterol.