Green Tea Catechins Decrease Lipid Peroxidation in Plasma and Organs of C57BL/6J Mice Fed Atherogenic Diet

Green tea catechins (TC) have anti-obesity effects on atherosclerosis-susceptible mice fed atherogenic diet, but the antioxidant effect of the catechins at these conditions is not studied. Our aim is to show that green tea catechins have a favorable effect on plasma and organs lipid peroxidation parameters. For the purpose we have fed atherosclerosis-susceptible mice HF (30 %) diet containing TC (0.5 %). We have measured body weight, food intake, ferric-reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), total cholesterol and a-tocopherol concentrations in plasma, and lipid hydroperoxides concentrations in liver and small intestine, and compared them with these in control group fed HF diet. Also we have measured ECG and EGCG concentrations in plasma, liver, and small intestine of the mice fed TC. Our results show that green tea catechins' feeding reduces the body weight without affecting the food intake. TC group FRAP values are significantly different from these in the control group at all investigated periods. a-Tocopherol plasma concentrations in TC group have greater values than these in the control group. TC group liver and small intestine lipid hydroperoxides concentrations are lower than these in HF group. In conclusion, our results show that green tea catechins' feeding leads to catechins accumulation in plasma, liver, and small intestine which causes anti-lipid peroxidation effects in atherosclerosissusceptible mice.