Effect of media milling on lipid-lowering and antioxidant activities of chitosan

The effect of media milling on lipid-lowering and antioxidant activities of chitosan was studied in rats fed high-fat diets. Results showed that media-milled chitosan was more effective than chitosan in reducing body weight gain and liver fat accumulation of rats. Compared with chitosan, the reducing effects of media-milled chitosan on serum triacylglycerol (TG), total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were increased by 10.1, 7.5 and 10.2%, and liver TG and TC-reducing effects were increased by 16.2 and 14.6%, respectively. Rats fed media-milled chitosan showed decreased levels of free fatty acid (FFA) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. The cholesterol and fat in feces of rats fed media-milled chitosan were higher than those of rats fed chitosan. These results suggested media milling enhanced the lipid-lowering and antioxidant activities of chitosan, and the reason might be partly due to its effect on strengthening the ability of chitosan in promoting fecal lipid excretions. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.