Anserine alleviates atherosclerosis in ApoE−/− mice by regulating lipid metabolism

BACKGROUND Anserine is a bioactive and nutritional food supplement, widely used in the food health supplement, athletic nutrition, and medical fields. The aim was to investigate the mechanism of anserine in alleviating atherosclerosis. ApoE −/− mice were fed a high‐fat diet and orally administered anserine at doses of 30, 60, and 120 mg kg −1 d −1 for 16 weeks. RESULTS Anserine showed the effect of inhibiting the synthesis of low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol based on reduced Surfeit 4 (Surf4) expression levels in the liver. Anserine showed the effect of accelerating cholesterol metabolism based on increased scavenger receptor class B type (SR‐B1), cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (CYP7A1), cholesterol 27α‐hydroxylase (CYP27A1), and ATP‐binding cassette subfamily G member 8 (ABCG8) expression levels in the liver. Anserine exhibited the effect of inhibiting exogenous cholesterol absorption based on reduced hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF‐4α)–Niemann–Pick C1‐Like 1 (NPC1L1)‐ Gramd1b / Gramd1c expression levels in small intestine. Correlation analysis showed that the plaque area was positively correlated with the Surf4 and NPC1L1, and negatively correlated with CYP7A1. CONCLUSION These results suggested that anserine might be a novel strategy to alleviate atherosclerosis by regulating lipid metabolism.