Antiatherogenic effect of Tiger nut tubers (Cyperus esculentus L.) supplemented diet in apolipoprotein E knockout mice

Abstract

The present study was carried out to evaluate the physiological effect of tiger nut tubers on lipid metabolism and peroxidation stress in apolipoprotein E knockout (apoE-/-) mice. Six male and five female mice, 6-7 wk old, was fed AIN 93G control diet supplemented with 25 % of whole powder of tiger nut tubers for 11 wk. Measurements were done for plasma, liver, aorta and brain lipid fractions. Peroxidation stress in mice serum and brain, i.e. vitamin E, nitric oxide and TBARS were evaluated and aortic valve lesions area was also determined. The obtained results showed that, type of diet and mice gender did not affect mice growth parameters. Serum and liver lipids were lowered in male mice fed tiger nut diet than that fed the control diet. However, the effect of tiger nut diet on the peroxidation parameters was not prominent. The mice fed on chufa-diet resulted in significant reduction in the aortic arch atherosclerotic lesions in both gender compared to that fed the basal diet. Our results show that tiger nut tubers have antiatherogenic effect and contain a gender dependent factor which regulates lipid metabolism in apoE-/- mice.