High Dietary Intervention of Lauric Triglyceride Might be Harmful to Its Improvement of Cholesterol Metabolism in Obese Rats

Hypercholesterolemia is often considered to be a major risk factor for atherosclerosis, and medium-chain fatty acids have been found to reduce the total cholesterol (TC) level and maintain low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) stability. However, we unexpectedly found that the levels of TC and LDL-c were increased in obese rats treated with high-dose lauric triglycerides (LT). The study aimed to investigate the effect and mechanism of LT on cholesterol metabolism in obese rats. Our results showed that LT intervention could reduce cholesterol biosynthesis by downregulating the expression of HMG-CoA reductase in obese rats. LT increased the expression levels of PPAR gamma 1, LXR alpha, ABCA1, and ABCG8 in the liver. These results indicated that LT could improve the lipid transfer and bile acid efflux. However, LT significantly increased the expression of PCSK 9, resulting in accelerated degradation of LDLR, thus reducing the transport of very LDL (VLDL) and LDL to the liver. Together with the increased expression of NPC1L1 protein, LT impaired the uptake of VLDL/LDL by the liver and increased the reabsorption of sterols, leading to an increase in the levels of TC and LDL-c in obese rats.

Automated summary

The study revealed that high-dose lauric triglycerides affected cholesterol metabolism in obese rats by downregulating cholesterol biosynthesis and improving lipid transfer, but also accelerated LDL receptor degradation, impaired VLDL/LDL transport, ultimately leading to elevated levels of TC and LDL-c.