Abstract:

Objective: To study the potential intestinal health effect of capsaicin and sanshool in hyperlipidemia rats.
Methods: A total of 56 Female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into blank (CON), high-fat-control
(HF-CON), high-fat plus 3 mg/kg sanshool (HF-3S), high-fat plus 9 mg/kg capsaicin (HF-9C), high-fat plus 1 mg/kg sanshool
and 8 mg/kg capsaicin (HF-1S:8C), high-fat plus 2 mg/kg sanshool and 7 mg/kg capsaicin (HF-2S:7C), high-fat plus 3 mg/kg
sanshool and 6 mg/kg capsaicin (HF-3S:6C) groups based on their weights with 8 rats in each group. Under normal feeding
conditions, feed intake was recorded daily. After being fed for 30 days, the rats were executed. Their cecum samples were
weighted. Free ammonia, pH, short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and microorganisms in cecum were determined. Results:
Feed intake, and cecum wall wet weight, pH and SCFAs in HF-2S:7C group were significantly increased; Enterococcus and
E. coli counts were decreased significantly, while lactic acid bacteria and anaerobic bacteria were increased significantly.
Conclusion: proper intake of capsaicin and sanshool can be beneficial to intestinal health in hyperlipidemia rats and the
optimum proportion of capsaicin and sanshool for rat intestinal health is 7:2.

Key words: capsaicin, sanshool, hyperlipidemia model, intestinal health