The Functional Properties of Preserved Eggs: From Anti-cancer andAnti-inflammatory Aspects

摘要

Preserved egg, a kind of alkaline-fermented food, is a traditional egg product in China. Here, we investigated the nutritional functions of preserved eggs by in vivo and in vitro experiments. The results of in vivo studies showed that the levels of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TCHO) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol/high density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C/HDL-C) were significantly decreased (p<0.05) in the liver of rats treated with preserved eggs. Meanwhile, the levels of two important cancer markers, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), were also significantly decreased (p<0.05) in treated rats. In vitro studies were performed on Caco-2 cells, a human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line. It demonstrated that the gastrointestinal (GI) digests of preserved eggs significantly accelerated (p<0.05) the apoptosis by upregulating caspase-3 in the Caco-2 cells. Besides, after treated with preserved eggs, the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of preserved eggs digests to Caco-2 cells was 5.75 mg/mL, indicating the significant inhibition of cell proliferation providedby preserved eggs (p<0.05). The results shown in thisstudy demonstrated that preserved eggs may be a novel functional food involvedwith antilipemic, anti-inflammatory activity as well as the effect onaccelarating the apoptosis of Caco-2 cells.