Anti-cholelithogenic effect of dietary tender cluster beans (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) on the formation of cholesterol gallstones in mice

Abstract

Providing a lithogenic diet that contains 0.5% cholesterol to experimental mice for 10 weeks resulted in cholesterol supersaturation in gallbladder bile, which induced the formation of cholesterol gallstones. In this study, to evaluate the anti-cholelithogenic potential of dietary tender cluster bean, a freeze-dried powder of the test legume was included in the lithogenic diet at 5%, 10%, and 15%. Dietary cluster beans reduced the cholesterol gallstone incidence by 43%, 46%, and 58% at the respective doses. Dietary cluster beans markedly reduced biliary cholesterol and, hence, the cholesterol saturation index. This was corroborated by the beneficial modification of the cholesterol/phospholipid ratio and the cholesterol/bile acid ratio in the bile. Dietary cluster beans countered the alterations in serum and liver cholesterol and lipid profiles caused by the lithogenic diet. Thus, dietary tender cluster beans exerted an anti-cholelithogenic influence by decreasing cholesterol hypersecretion into bile and, hence, the cholesterol saturation index, decreasing the formation of lithogenic bile in experimental mice.