Kok N, Roberfroid M, Robert A, Delzenne N
Deparetment des Sciences Pharmaceutiques. Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
Dietary supplementation with oligofructose (OFS; 100 g/kg), a non-digestible
oligomer of beta-D-fructose, decreases serum triacylglycerols in serum
and VLDL of rats. In order to investigate the role of hepatic metabolism
in the hypolipidaemic effect of OFS, male Wistar rats were fed on a standard
diet with or without 100 g Raftilose P95/kg as OFS source for 30 d. OFS
feeding (1) significantly decreased triacylglycerol and phospholipid concentrations
in both blood and liver, (2) increased the glycerol-3-phosphate liver content
but decreased the hepatic activity of glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase
(EC 2.3.1.15), suggesting a decrease in acylglycerol synthesis, (3) did
not affect the blood non-esterified fatty acid concentrations, but (4)
reduced by 54% the capacity of isolated hepatocytes to synthesize and secrete
triacylglycerols from labelled acetate; the activity of fatty acid synthase,
a key lipogenic enzyme was also significantly decreased. These findings
suggest that OFS decreases serum triacylglycerols by reducing de novo fatty
acid synthesis in the liver; the lower insulin level in the serum of OFS-fed
rats could explain, at least partly, the metabolic effect induced by such
non-digestible carbohydrates.
PMID: 9014656, UI: 97166967