title: A Western-type diet attenuates pulmonary hypertension with heart failure and cardiac cachexia in rats.
abstract: Western-type diets (WD) constitute risk factors for disease but may have distinct effects in heart failure (HF) with cardiac cachexia (CC). We evaluated hemodynamic, metabolic, and inflammatory effects of short-term WD intake in pulmonary hypertension (PH) with CC. Male Wistar rats randomly received 60 mg · kg(-1) monocrotaline (M) or vehicle (C) and consumed either a 5.4-kcal · g(-1) WD (35% animal fat, 35% simple carbohydrate, 20% protein, 0.4% Na(+)) or a 2.9-kcal · g(-1) (3% vegetable fat, 60% complex carbohydrate, 16% protein, 0.25% Na(+)) normal diet (ND) for 5 wk. Mortality, energy intake, body weight (BW), metabolism, hemodynamics, histology, apoptosis, gene expression, transcription factors, and plasma cytokines were evaluated. Compared with the C-ND group, the M-ND group had PH, HF, and mortality that were significantly attenuated in M-WD. The extent of myocardial remodeling and apoptosis was higher in M-ND than in C-ND but lower in M-WD than in M-ND, while conversely, energy intake, BW, cholesterol, and TG plasma concentrations were lower in M-ND than in C-ND but higher in M-WD than in M-ND. M-ND had increased myocardial NF-κB transcription factor activity, endothelin-1, and cytokine overexpression and higher circulating cytokine concentrations than C-ND, which were lower in M-WD than in M-ND. PPARα activity, however, was lower in M-ND, but not in M-WD, compared with the respective C groups. WD attenuated PH and CC, ameliorating survival, myocardial function, metabolism, and inflammation, through transcription factor modulation, suggesting a beneficial role in CC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: André P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Lourenço
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vasques-Nóvoa
authors.forename: Dulce
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fontoura
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brás-Silva
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roncon-Albuquerque
authors.forename: Adelino F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Leite-Moreira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D002100:Cachexia / Q000150:complications*; D004032:Diet; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications*; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000150:complications / Q000178:diet therapy*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism; D047493:PPAR alpha / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D016328:NF-kappa B; D047493:PPAR alpha; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha