title: Omega 3 has a beneficial effect on ischemia/reperfusion injury, but cannot reverse the effect of stressful forced exercise.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The beneficial effects of exercise in reducing the incidence of cardiovascular diseases are well known. Several studies have demonstrated that forced exercise (FE) could activate a stress response similar to a restrain stress. Previous studies suggest that heart protection to ischemic events would be improved by an omega 3 free fatty acid (omega3-FFA)-enriched diet. Here, we investigate the impact of stressful FE and an omega 3-FFA-enriched diet on cardiac tolerance to ischemic events over one month.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-four Wistar rats were randomly assigned to one of the following protocols: 1) Sedentary (SED) animals who were regularly fed; 2) sedentary animals who were given 1ml/day of fish oil for one month; 3) FE+omega3-FFA rats who were given 1ml/day of fish oil and forced to run on a motorized wheel for 30min every day, both for one month; and 4) FE animals were forced to exercise as group 3 and fed with a regular diet. At the end of the treatments an isolated heart preparation was performed. After a 30min global ischemic event and 2h reperfusion, hearts of sedentary-omega3 animals recovered about 37% of left ventricular developed pressure, whereas FE, omega3+FE and CTRL-SED animals recovered only about 15%, 5% and 8% respectively. Similarly, heart infarct size was significantly lower in sedentary-omega3 animals compared to animals in the three other groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results indicate that one month of treatment with an omega3-FFA-enriched diet improves cardioprotection upon ischemic events, whereas FE leads to a reduced heart tolerance to ischemic events, which cannot be reversed by an omega3-FFA diet.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Biologiche, Università di Torino, Orbassano, Torino, Italy. daniele.mancardi@unito.it
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mancardi
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tullio
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crisafulli
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rastaldo
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Folino
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Penna
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pagliaro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D015428:Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3