Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of wild rice seeds (Zizania latifolia) on blood lipids and inflammatory factor levels in some tissues of high-fat fed rats with insulin resistance. Methods: Totally 50 SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: negative control, insulin resistance model, high-dose wild rice, low-dose wild rice and rice flour groups. Before and after these animals were fed for 8 weeks, body mass and total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were measured. The SPSS 18.0 software was used to analyze the experimental data. Results: Compared with the insulin resistance model and rice flour groups, body mass and the levels of TC, TG and LDL-C in rats administered with wild rice at both doses declined significantly (P < 0.05), and the level of HDL-C increased significantly (P < 0.05). Compared with the insulin resistance model group, the level of TNF-α and IL-6 in the high-dose wild rice group significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Both the low-dose and high-dose groups showed a significantly increased level of IL-6 in comparison with the negative control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Wild rice seeds have the potential to improve insulin resistance in high-fat diet fed rats, likely by reducing blood lipids and regulating the expression of inflammatory cytokines.

Key words: wild rice seeds, insulin resistance, blood lipids, inflammatory cytokines