Frequent inadequate supply of micronutrients in fast food induces oxidative stress and inflammation in testicular tissues of weanling male rats

Fast food has increasingly become a prominent feature of the diet of children, throughout the world. It is high in energy density and low in essential micronutrient density. One of the most essential biological elements for male reproductive tissue is zinc [Zn] of known antioxidant dependent processes. The aim of the present work was to test the hypothesis that frequent fast food consumption could induce oxidative damage associated with inflammation in weanling male rats in relevance to Zn deprivation that can adversely affect testis function. Twenty male wistar rats [50 +/- 10 gm] were used in the present study. Ten rats were placed on a typical fast food while the other ten rats were fed normal chow diet [controls]. Zn and iron [in plasma and testicular tissue], plasma antioxidant vitamins [A, E, and C], as well as testicular superoxide dismutase [SOD] and reduced glutathione [GSH], lipid peroxidation indexes [TBARS and lipoprotein oxidation susceptibility [LOS]], and inflammatory markers [plasma CRP and testicular TNF-alpha] were determined. Serum testosterone in addition to histological examination of testis was also performed. We found severe decrease in antioxidant vitamins, and Zn with concomitant iron accumulation. Simultaneous TBARS and LOS increase with SOD and GSH decrease demonstrated enhanced oxidative stress and consequently regulation of the proinflammatory mediators; CRP and TNF-alpha, therefore testosterone level was significantly reduced. Microscope examination showed damage in seminiferous tubules and cellular infiltrate in interstitial regions. We conclude that frequent fast food supply in weanling male rats enhanced oxidative stress and inflammation in testicular tissue in relevance to micronutrients deficiency especially Zn, in turn leading to the underdevelopment of the testis and the abnormal level of testosterone hormone

Obesity increases transcription of heme oxygenase-1 gene and synergistically stimulates angiogenesis with vascular endothelial growth factor and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 in rats

Angiogenesis plays an important role in obesity; heme oxygenase-1 [HO-1] has been implicated in the process of angiogenesis. To investigate the effect of obesity on transcription of HO-1 gene and to study the relation between elevated HO-1 and other angiogenic factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor [VEGF] and plasminogen activator inhibitor -1 [PAI-1] which are though to play an important role in the pathogenesis of obesity. Obesity was induced in 15 albino rats by feeding high fat diet for 3 months to establish diet-induced obesity. Another 15 rats were used as control. Blood samples were collected from tail vein; plasma PAI-1, lipid profile, free fatty acids [FFA], leptin and VEGF were measured. RNA was extracted from liver of obese and normal rats and RT-PCR was done, beta-actin mRNA expression for each sample was used as internal control. In rats fed high fat diets for 3 months, the total body weight were significantly increased [247.0 +/- 14.66g] compared to control group [126.37 +/- 23.26 g]. Obese rats showed a significant increase in serum triacylglycerol [TAC], total cholesterol [TC], low density lipoproteins-cholesterol [LDL-C], leptin and plasma free fatty acids, while serum high-density lipoproteins-cholesterol [HDL-C] was significantly decreased. HO-1-mRNA was increased in liver homogenates of obese rats compared to non-obese rats. These results indicate that the body response to obesity by elevating the expression of the stress gene HO-I. Angiogenic factors VEGF and PAI-I were significantly increased in obese compared to non-obese rats. Our findings suggest that HO-I and angiogenic factors [VEGF and PAI-I] play an important role in pathogenesis of obesity