Effects of Wheat Bran and Its Cholesterol Increasing Factors on Serum Components in Rats.

Abstract

It is well known that the rats fed on wheat bran increase serum cholesterol levels. To make clear one of the cholesterol increasing components of wheat bran, a fraction soluble in ethanol containing some flavone derivatives was extracted from wheat bran, and we investigated the effects of dietary ethanol extract or other fractions from wheat bran, on serum components such as cholesterol, transaminase and A/G ratio in rats. Moreover, to remove cholesterol increasing factors from wheat bran, we investigated the effects of ethanol treated wheat bran and mechanically treated wheat bran on serum components in rats. Dietary addition of wheat bran, ethanol extract from wheat bran, fraction soluble in methanol and insoluble in benzene, resulted in a significant increase in serum total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein (HDL) -cholesterol. The addition of ethanol treated wheat bran to the diet caused a significantly low serum cholesterol level and serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase activity as compared with the value in rats fed wheat bran diet.