<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;line-height:130%"> Los Angeles, CA</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff <hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">3.22.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> Researchers at UCLA have produced genetically engineered tomatoes to produce a peptide that mimics the actions of good cholesterol.<img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/ucla-tomato-research-cropped.jpg" alt="IMAGES 3-21-2013" />The study was published in the April issue of the Journal of Lipid Research, and found that mice that were fed these tomatoes in freeze-dried, ground form had less inflammation and plaque build-up in their arteries.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"This is one of the first examples of a peptide that acts like the main protein in good cholesterol and can be delivered by simply eating the plant," said senior author Dr. Alan M. Fogelman, executive chair of the department of medicine and director of the atherosclerosis research unit at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "There was no need to isolate or purify the peptide - it was fully active after the plant was eaten."<img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/ucla-tomato-research-cropped-2.jpg" alt="IMAGES 3-21-2013" />The team genetically engineered tomatoes to produce 6F, a small peptide that mimics the action of apoA-1, the chief protein in HDL or "good" cholesterol. Scientists fed the tomatoes to mice that lacked the ability to remove low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad" cholesterol) from their blood and readily developed inflammation and atherosclerosis when consuming a high-fat diet, according to NewsMedical.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The researchers found that mice that ate the peptide-enhanced tomatoes, had significantly lower levels of inflammation; higher activity of an antioxidant enzyme associated with good cholesterol; higher levels of good cholesterol; decreased lysophosphatidic acid, a tumor- promoter that accelerates plaque build-up in the arteries in animal models; and less atherosclerotic plaque.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"It seems likely that the mechanism of action of the peptide-enhanced tomatoes involves altering lipid metabolism in the intestine, which positively impacts cholesterol," said the study's corresponding author, Srinavasa T. Reddy, a UCLA professor of medicine and of molecular and medical pharmacology.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.news-medical.net/news/20130320/Genetically-modified-tomatoes-mimic-actions-of-good-cholesterol.aspx" target="_new">Tomato Research</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
