title: Food inequality negatively impacts cardiac health in rabbits.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Individuals with lower socioeconomic status experience higher rates of mortality and are more likely to suffer from numerous diseases. While some studies indicate that humans who suffer from social inequality suffer generally worse health, to our knowledge no controlled experiments of this nature have been done in any species. Lipofuscin is a highly oxidized cross-linked aggregate consisting of oxidized protein and lipid clusters. This eminent terminal oxidation outcome accumulates within cells during aging process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty two rabbits were assigned into four groups randomly of eight each. The first group encountered food deprivation for eight weeks and was kept in an isolated situation. The second group was food deprived for eight weeks but encountered to other groups continuously. The third group suffered two weeks of deprivation and then received free access to food. The fourth group had free access to diet without any deprivation. All hearts were removed for histopathological evaluation. Cross-sections of hearts were examined by light microscopy for the presence of yellow-brown Lipofuscin pigment granules. Here we show that relative food deprivation can cause accumulation of Lipofuscin pigmentation. We find that cardiac Lipofuscin deposition increases the most in the inequitable condition in which food deprived individuals observe well-fed individuals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings demonstrate that a sense of inequality in food intake can promote aging more than food deprivation alone. These findings should be considered as a basis for further studies on the physiological mechanisms by which inequality negatively impacts health and well-being.
authors.affiliation: Physiology Department, Shahed University, Medical School, Tehran, Iran. Heidary@sbmu.ac.ir
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Heidary
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Vaez Mahdavi
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Vaeze Mahdavi
authors.forename: Farshad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Momeni
authors.forename: Bagher
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Minaii
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rogani
authors.forename: Nader
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fallah
authors.forename: Roghayeh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heidary
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gharebaghi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005508:Food Deprivation / Q000502:physiology*; D008062:Lipofuscin / Q000378:metabolism; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011817:Rabbits; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
chemical_list: D008062:Lipofuscin