Evaluation of Biochemical and Histological Effectiveness of Pleurotus Citrinopileatus on Plasma, Feces and Liver in Hypercholesterolemic Rats

Pleurotus citrinopileatus is a popular edible mushroom in Korea due to their bright color, unique flavor and texture. This study was initiated to evaluate the effects of feeding dietary P. citrinopileatus fruiting bodies on plasma and feces biochemical and on the liver histopathology in hypercholesterolemic rats. Six-week old female Sprague-Dawley albino rats were divided into three groups of 10 rats each. Feeding of a diet containing a 5% P. citrinopileatus fruiting bodies to hypercholesterolemic rats reduced plasma total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, total lipid, phospholipids, and LDL/HDL ratio by 19.57, 37.16, 61.54, 20.71, 15.96, and 59.18%, respectively. Mushroom also significantly reduced body weight in hypercholesterolemic rats. However, it had no adverse effects on plasma albumin, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, creatinin, blood urea nitrogen, uric acid, glucose, total protein, calcium, sodium, potassium, chloride, inorganic phosphate, magnesium, and enzyme profiles. Feeding mushroom significantly increased total lipid and cholesterol excretion in feces. The plasma lipoprotein fraction, separated by agarose gel electrophoresis, indicated that P. citrinopileatus significantly reduced plasma β and pre-β-lipoprotein, while increased αlipoprotein. A histological study of hepatic cells by conventional hematoxylin-eosin and oil red O staining showed normal findings for mushroom-fed hypercholesterolemic rat. The results suggested that a 5% P. citrinopileatus diet supplement do not have detrimental effects on the liver rather may provides health benefits for the cardiovascular-related complication by decreasing the atherogenic lipid profile in the hypercholesterolemic rats.