Affiliations: Department of Food and Nutrition, Sugiyama Jogakuen University, Nagoya 464‐8662, Japan | Institute for Biomedical Research, Suntory Ltd., Osaka 618‐8503, Japan
Note: [] Address correspondence to: Kanae Yamashita, Department of Food and Nutrition, Sugiyama Jogakuen University, 17‐3 Hoshigaoka‐motomachi, Chikusa‐ku, Nagoya 464‐8662, Japan. Tel.: +81 52 781 1186; Fax: +81 52 782 7265.
Abstract: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an essential nutrient for human health, but has extremely high oxidative susceptibility. We examined the suppressing effect of sesamin, a sesame seed lignan, on lipidperoxides in rats fed a low \alpha‐tocopherol and high DHA containing diet. Groups of rats were fed four experimental diets: low \alpha‐tocopherol (10 mg/kg diet) control diet, low \alpha‐tocopherol + 0.2% sesamin diet, low \alpha‐tocopherol + 0.5% DHA diet and low \alpha‐tocopherol + 0.5% DHA + 0.2% sesamin diet. TBARS concentrations in plasma and liver were significantly increased by DHA, but were completely suppressed by sesamin. \alpha‐Tocopherol concentrations in plasma and liver decreased by addition of DHA, but with sesamin recovered to the control level. The addition of DHA into the diets caused remarkable increases of DHA concentrations in plasma and liver lipids. Sesamin caused a significant increase of DHA concentrations in the triacylglycerol of plasma.
