Effects of bovine milk and buffalo milk on lipid metabolism in mice.

Abstract

Buffalo milk contains more polyunsaturated fatty acids than bovine milk. However, it is not clear about the effects of buffalo milk and bovine milk on lipid metabolism. In this study, a mouse model was used to explore the effects of buffalo milk and bovine milk on lipid metabolism in mice. The experiment was divided into three groups: a control group on a normal diet; a bovine milk group infused with bovine milk; a buffalo milk group infused with buffalo milk. We fed three groups of mice (n = 6) for 6 weeks. These results showed that bovine milk and buffalo milk had no effect on body weight gain. Bovine milk increased the content of ApoA1, ApoBand glucose in serum, compared with the control group, but buffalo milk has no profound change in serum ApoB. Remarkably, buffalo milk decreased the content of total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) in the liver lipid profile, and also downregulated the expression of the carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2 (Cpt2) gene involved in the fatty acid oxidation in the liver. This study also found that bovine milk and buffalo milk did not cause the expression of pro-inflammatory factors in serum and colon tissues. This experiment proved that buffalo milk has beneficial effects on the regulation of lipid metabolism, and also does not affect the normal growth and pro-inflammatory response of the colon in mice. It provides a theoretical basis for future in-depth research on the special functions of buffalo milk and the development of buffalo milk functional foods.