Use of metabolomics and lipidomics to evaluate the hypocholestreolemic effect of Proanthocyanidins from grape seed in a pig model

Abstract

Scope: This work aims to evaluate changes in the fecal metabolomic profile due to grape seed extract (GSE) intake by untargeted and targeted analysis using high resolution mass spectrometry in conjunction with multivariate statistics.

Methods and results: An intervention study with six crossbred female pigs was performed. The pigs followed a standard diet for 3 days, then they were fed with a supplemented diet containing 1% (w/w) of MegaNatural® Gold grape seed extract for 6 days. Fresh pig fecal samples were collected daily. A combination of untargeted high resolution mass spectrometry, multivariate analysis (PLS-DA), data-dependent MS/MS scan, and accurate mass database matching was used to measure the effect of the treatment on fecal composition. The resultant PLS-DA models showed a good discrimination among classes with great robustness and predictability. A total of 14 metabolites related to the GSE consumption were identified including biliary acid, dicarboxylic fatty acid, cholesterol metabolites, purine metabolites, and eicosanoid metabolites among others. Moreover, targeted metabolomics using GC-MS showed that cholesterol and its metabolites fecal excretion was increased due to the proanthocyanidins from grape seed extract.

Conclusion: The results show that oligomeric procyanidins from GSE modifies bile acid and steroid excretion, which could exert a hypocholesterolemic effect.

Keywords: Biliary acids; Cholesterol; Feces; Grape seed extract; Hypocholesterolemic effect; Metabolomics; Polyphenols; Proanthocyanidins.