Lipid-lowering activities of chitosan and its quaternary ammonium salt for the hyperlipidemia rats induced by high-fat diets

The lipid-lowering activities of chitosan (CS) and its quaternary ammonium salt (HACC) with two molecular weights (CS1, 2.5 × 105; HACC1, 2.4 × 105; CS2, 3.8 × 104; HACC2, 3.5 × 104) were evaluated for the rats fed with high-fat diets, respectively. The results showed that oral four CS samples resulted in the significant decrease of food efficiency ratio with the increase of fecal fat and cholesterol excretion (P < 0.05) compared with high-fat control group. Furthermore, the lipid-mediated oxidative stress and lipid levels in plasma and liver reduced, and hepatic lipase and lipoprotein lipase activities increased after the administration of CS and HACC. But the lipid-lowering effects of the four CS samples were different, which was HACC2 > HACC1 > CS2 > CS1 successively. The findings indicated that CS and HACC could reduce the absorption of dietary fat and cholesterol in vivo, which helped to alleviate hyperlipidemia and fatty liver effectively in the rats.