Effect of Chitosan on Hepatic Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes and Oxidative Stress in Rats Fed Low- and High-Fat Diets

Abstract

Chitosan is sold worldwide as a lipid-lowering functional food and may be taken with certain medications. To investigate the effect of chitosan on drug-metabolizing enzymes and oxidative stress in the liver, male Wistar rats were fed a low- or high-fat diet with cellulose or chitosan for 4 weeks. A significant decrease in cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A-catalyzed testosterone 6beta-hydroxylation in liver microsomes was observed in rats fed the chitosan with low- and high-fat diets. The expression of CYP 3A1 and 3A2, however, was suppressed by chitosan in rats fed the low-fat diet only. Furthermore, rats fed the low-fat diet with chitosan had lower hepatic glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity and superoxide dismutase activity and higher total tissue and microsomal lipid hydroperoxides. Hepatic alpha-tocopherol was lower in rats fed the chitosan-containing diet. The results suggest that chitosan is likely to modulate CYP 3A activity and protein expression and GST activity partially in a dietary fat-dependent manner. This change may cause a decrease in the metabolism of drugs catalyzed by these enzymes in liver tissues. Moreover, decrease of alpha-tocopherol level and SOD activity by chitosan partly accounts for the increase of hepatic lipid peroxidation.

Determination of the Deacetylation Degree of Chitooligosaccharides

“…Chitosan is a linear polysaccharide containing various proportions of GlcN [ 3 ]. It has applications in nutritional [ 4 ], agricultural [ 5 ], and medical areas [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. However, its poor solubility in aqueous solutions and its high viscosity are problematic for those applications.…”

A Diterpenoid, 14-Deoxy-11, 12-Didehydroandrographolide, in Andrographis paniculata Reduces Steatohepatitis and Liver Injury in Mice Fed a High-Fat and High-Cholesterol Diet

“…The Western blot analysis was performed as described previously [33]. The liver homogenates of each group with equal amounts of protein were separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride membranes.…”

Water-Soluble Chitosan Sensitizes Apoptosis in Human Leukemia Cells via the Downregulation of BCL-2 and Dephosphorylation of Akt

“…Currently, chitosan is widely used as pharmaceutical foods because of its biocompatibility, nontoxicity and adsorption (Dass and Choong 2008;Bonferoni et al 2009). Previous studies have also shown that chitosan has a lipid-lowering effect resulting from a decrease in the metabolism of intestinal bile acids (Ylitalo et al 2002;Yao et al 2010). Additionally, chitosan has been reported to have immunomodulating (Lim et al 1997) and anticancer effects, including the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation (Tokoro et al 1988), angiogenesis (Murata et al 1991) and metastasis (Murata et al 1989).…”

“…Previous studies have also shown that chitosan has a lipid‐lowering effect resulting from a decrease in the metabolism of intestinal bile acids (Ylitalo et al . 2002; Yao et al . 2010).…”