Zinc Regulates Lipid Metabolism and MMPs Expression in Lipid Disturbance Rabbits.

Lipid disturbance induced by high-fat diet is a worldwide problem, and it can induce inflammation and oxidative stress in vivo. Zinc is considered as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory agent. Since matrix metalloprotease 2 (MMP2) and matrix metalloprotease 9 (MMP9)'s expressions are changed under many pathological conditions, we would like to know how zinc affects lipid metabolism and MMP2, MMP9's expressions in the lipid disturbance rabbits. Twenty-four male New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into four groups. Each group had six rabbits, and they were fed with regular diet, high-fat diet, high-fat diet+zinc, and regular diet+zinc separately for 12 weeks. High-fat diet induced lipid disturbance significantly which raised the level of aspartate aminotransferase (p<0.01) and alanine transaminase (p<0.05) in the high-fat diet group, but zinc supplement reversed this phenomenon (p<0.05). Zinc did not reduce total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (p>0.05), but it lowered triglyceride (TG) and raised high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (p<0.01). Zinc also reduced high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (p<0.01) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)'s expressions (p<0.05). Zinc reduced the epicardial adipose tissue and alleviated the hepatic steatosis. Zinc suppressed MMP2 and MMP9's expressions in vivo, but it did not alleviate the aorta fatty streak's severity in the lipid disturbance rabbits. Zinc protected the liver, reduced TG, hs-CRP, and IL-6 and raised HDL-C in the lipid disturbance rabbits. Zinc suppressed MMP2 and MMP9's expressions in vivo, but it did not alleviate the severity of aorta fatty streak induced by the high-fat diet.