Fig. 3

Reduced cholesterol in the liver and increased cholesterol in the bile after the BBR treatment. (a) The liver cholesterol levels in the BBR-treated ND hamsters. (b) The bile cholesterol levels in the BBR-treated ND hamsters. (c) Reductions in the liver cholesterol levels of the HFD hamsters were observed by day 3 and became significant by day 7 at both doses. (d) BBR resulted in significantly higher cholesterol levels in both BBR-treated HFD groups at day 10 than the HFD control group. (e) Lovastatin did not significantly decrease the cholesterol levels in the HFD hamster livers. (f) Lovastatin did not significantly increase the cholesterol levels in the HFD hamster bile. (g) In the feces, BBR decreased the levels of cholesterol, but significantly increased the levels of coprostanol from day 3 to day 10. The data are shown as the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 vs the ND controls (c, e and g) or the HFD controls (d, f); ^### P < 0.001 vs the BBR-treated HFD hamsters (100 mg/kg/day).