Preliminary Studies On The Related Genes Of Cholesterol Homoestasis Influenced By Functional Monascus

Monascus fermentation products as efficacy of cholesterol-lowering food and drugs is well-known, and the statins are major cholesterol-lowering substances, but past study have showen that the role of Monascus fermentation products is different from the role of statins. In this paper, there were a variety of functional ingredients Monascus fermentation products were determined to. Taking the production of Monacolin K as the index, effects of metabolites of Monascus fermented rice on antiproliferation of HepG-2and lipid-lowering of hamster were studied. And related genes at transcriptional level of cholesterol homoestasis in HepG-2and hamster liver were also investigated.Monacolin K and citrinin in a variety of Monascus fermentation products have been detected by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Finally, Monascus C002was selected as experimental strain for no monascin and ankaflavin presenting in its fermented product.The antiproliferation effect of ethanol extract from Monascus C002fermentation product on HepG-2cell in vitro was studied by the method of MTT. It showed that the extracts of fermentation product of Monascus C002and Monacolin K alone were all active in inhibiting HepG-2cell growth, and the effect was similar when the concentration of Monacolin K was equal. As a result, Monacolin K is the main anti-tumor substances in Monascus C002.To characterize the influence of Monascus C002on cholesterol metabolism, we monitored the expression of the5genes in HepG-2cell. The expression levels of CYP7A1gene increased significantly with the concentration of the sample, and the C002Monascus fermentation product extracted by alcohol is better than the Monacolin K alone. The expression of SREBP-2, HMGR, LDLR, changes no obviously.The high cholesterol model had been established by hamsters as experimental animals, Compared to the Monacolin K alone, lipid-lowering experiment with the Monascus C002fermentation product shows that the model of high cholesterol had established successfully. HDL-C levels rose, and LDL-C levels decreased, which reduced the possibility of the occurrence of atherosclerosis arterial. And the changes of gene expression in hamster liver related to the amount of cholesterol had been detected. In MK group, the expression levels of LDLR, CYP7A1and HMGR gene increased significantly, and in Monascus group, the expression of LXR and CYP7A1gene increased significantly.Experimental results show that non-statin substances of Monascus C002plays a role in cholesterol metabolism, which related cholesterol excretion sites like LXR, CYP7A1genes.