The postprandial effect of apple juice intake on some of the biochemical risk factors of atherosclerosis in male rabbit

Recent studies showed that high-fat meal may acutely impair endothelium-dependent vasodilation. In this study, we have investigated acute effects of apple juice intake on some of the biochemical atherosclerosis risk factors in high cholesterol fed rabbits. Rabbits were assigned to 4 groups: no cholesterol, a diet containing 1% cholesterol, a diet containing 1% cholesterol with 5 ml apple juice, a diet containing 1% cholesterol with 10 ml apple juice. Blood samples were collected before the experiment and three hours after feeding with these diets for measurement of C-Reactive Protein(CRP), malondialdehyde (MDA), nitrite, nitrate, glucose,LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), oxidized-LDL (ox-LDL), total cholesterol (TC), apolipoprotein B (ApoB), triglyceride (TG), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), apolipoprotein A (ApoA), serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), serum glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) and fibrinogen. Using 5 and 10 ml apple juice with cholesterolemic diet caused significant reduction in glucose and fibrinogen. Using 10 ml apple juice with cholesterolemic diet caused significant reduction in ox-LDL, MDA and nitrite in comparison with hypercholesterolemic diet. No significant difference was found between apple juice taking groups and hypercholesterolemic diet group in TC, HDL-C, TG, LDL-C, ApoA, ApoB, SGPT, SGOT, nitrate and CRP. The results of this study suggest that there might be a protective acute effect in postprandial use of apple juice on some of the risk factors of atherosclerosis particularly as an antioxidant.   Key words: Apple juice, atherosclerosis, MDA, CRP.