A high plasma cholesterol level, especially low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, indicates increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Plasma cholesterol levels are influenced by diet and cholesterol biosynthesis, uptake, and secretion. Cholesterol uptake involves solubilization into complex phospholipid spherical bodies termed micelles that facilitate the transport of lipids through the gut brush border membrane into enterocytes. In vitro assays reported to date to determine potential cholesterol-lowering effects of various compounds require artificial micelle preparations that are elaborate and time-consuming to prepare. The aims of this study were to compare the efficacy of artificially prepared micelles with naturally derived micelles from pig's bile and to test their ability to assess potential inhibitors of cholesterol uptake. The suitability of pig's bile-derived micelles was tested both at the level of the micelle and at cellular uptake using cultured Caco-2 cells. Known cholesterol uptake inhibitors at the micelle (green tea catechins) and at the Caco-2 cell (beta-lactoglobulin-derived peptide, IIAEK) were used as reference inhibitory compounds. It was concluded that pig's bile was a rapid, reproducible, convenient, and cost-effective source of micelles for cholesterol micelle solubility and cellular uptake assay systems and is suitable for screening purposes focused on identifying potential cholesterol-lowering agents.

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We have reported that dietary fish oil (FO) rich in n-3 PUFA modulates gut contractility. It was further demonstrated that the gut of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) has a depressed contractility response to prostaglandins (PG) compared with normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. We investigated whether feeding diets supplemented with n-3 PUFA increased gut contractility and restored the depressed prostanoid response in SHR gut. Thirteen-week-old SHR were fed diets containing fat at 5 g/100 g as coconut oil (CO), lard, canola oil containing 10% (w/w) n-3 FA as alpha-linolenic acid (1 8:3n-3), or FO (as HiDHA, 22:6n-3) for 12 wk. A control WKY group was fed 5 g/100 g CO in the diet. As confirmed, the SHR CO group had a significantly lower gut response to PGE2 and PGF2alpha compared with the WKY CO group. Feeding FO increased the maximal contraction response to acetylcholine in the ileum compared with all diets and in the colon compared with lard, and restored the depressed response to PGE2 and PGF2alpha in the ileum but not the colon of SHR. FO feeding also led to a significant increase in gut total phospholipid n-3 PUFA as DHA (22:6n-3) with lower n-6 PUFA as arachidonic acid (20:4n-6). Canola feeding led to a small increase in ileal EPA (20:5n-3) and DHA and in colonic DHA without affecting contractility. However, there was no change in ileal membrane muscarinic binding properties due to FO feeding. This report confirms that dietary FO increases muscarinic- and eicosanoid receptor-induced contractility in ileum and that the depressed prostanoid response in SHR ileum, but not colon, is restored by tissue incorporation of DHA as the active nutrient.