Influence of Dietary Feeding of Low Monomer Content Grape Seed Extract on Vitellogenin Production and Cholesterol Levels in Goldfish, Carassius auratus

Abstract

Grape seed extract (GSE) is a source of naturally occurring compounds known as proanthocyanidins and flavan-3-ols, which are recognized to exert a protective effect on human health, so GSE is widely used mainly as a nutritional supplement. However, polyphenols may have, in some cases, estrogenic effects or may interfere with the endocrine system. For that reason, it was considered of interest to investigate the beneficial or detrimental effects induced by low monomer content grape seed extract (LMC-GSE) in a teleost experimental model, the juvenile goldfish (Carassius auratus); therefore, biomarkers of estrogenic exposure together with cholesterol titers were assessed in both plasma and tissue samples taken from fish fed with different doses of LMC-GSE for 4 weeks. Dietary LMC-GSE (71 or 35 mg/g diet) did not affect vitellogenin (VTG) synthesis; on the contrary, VTG production was exclusively induced in fish fed with an estradiol-17beta (E2)-incorporated diet. In addition, it was found that both plasma E2 levels and hepatic total cholesterol were not affected by LMC-GSE dietary regimens.

Dietary Aloe vera components’ effects on cholesterol lowering and estrogenic responses in juvenile goldfish, Carassius auratus

“…In a pilot experiment, the dose used in this study was tried and confirmed to be suitable and effective in test fish; on the contrary, lower doses than 20 mg aloe/g diet did not result in significant modulation of plasma lipid profile (data non shown). The concentration of E2 was also chosen based on its ability to maximally induce VTG (Palermo et al 2009).…”