Objective Roles of persimmon peel were investigated on possibility of developing atherosclerosis in low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR)-deficient mice in view of lipid metabolism, physico-biological oxidation, production of its related atherogenic autoantigen, and anti-atherogenic natural antibody production.

Method Male LDLR-deficient mice fed a high fat diet or a high fat diet supplemented with 10% dried and powdered persimmon peel (PP) for 12 weeks.

Result The PP supplementation significantly reduced the increment of plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The high fat diet feeding increased plasma level of oxidised LDL/β2-glycoprotein I (oxLDL/β2GPI) complexes as an atherogenic atuoantigen, while the PP supplementation significantly reduced the increment (p<0.05). After the 12-week feeding, atherosclerotic plaque in the mice with the diet of PP decreased by 70% as compared to that in mice fed the high fat diet (p<0.005). The PP feeding also reduced urinary 11-dehydrothromboxane B2, a stable metabolite of platelet activation marker thromboxane A2, but IgM level of anti-oxLDL antibodies was not changed.

Conclusion Thus, these results demonstrate that persimmon peel may have an anti-atherogenic property through normalisation of lipid metabolism and may be able to reduce production of the atherogenic complexes.