Biblioteca Virtual en Salud

While, regimens that promise rapid weight loss have great appeal for most obese patients, cardiac damage is a major complication of such chronic starvation. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of vitamin E treatment on cardiac performance in 6-day starved Wistar rats. A total of 48 female Wistar rats were divided into three groups. The first was 6-day control group that represents normally fed [NF] rats. The second was 6-day starved group, which has been subjected to starvation from food but given water ad libitum for 6 consecutive days. The third included 6-day starved rats treated with vitamin E in a dose of 300 mg/kg/day on each day of the starvation regimen. Six days from the onset of the experiment, animals were weighed, underwent determination of body mass index, and recording of ECG. The isolated hearts were studied using a modified Langendorff preparation. Isolated hearts were investigated for their intrinsic activity under basal condition as well as for their response to ischemia reperfusion and the response to Beta adrenergic stimulation by isoproterenol infusion. Cardiac weights were also determined. The 6-day starved rats exhibited significant bradycardia. In the vitamin E-treated starved rats, the decrease in heart rate was not altered. In both starved group and vitamin E-treated starved group, there was a significant reduction in left ventricular and whole heart absolute weights. However, cardiac weight-to-body weight ratios were not significantly different from that of the controls. Studies on isolated hearts revealed that ischemia-reperfusion in starved rats produced a significantly higher incidence of ventricular fibrillation as well as marked left ventricular contractile dysfunction. Vitamin E protected the hearts of starved rats against reperfusion-ventricular fibrillation. Also, vitamin E-treatment of starved rats was effective in improving the tolerance to ischemia-reperfusion injury as regards force generation as indicated by early recovery of peak developed tension from significant deterioration. The data on responses to isoproterenol infusion of isolated hearts from 6-day starved rats revealed almost normal chronotropic and inotropic responses. However, impaired responses of both systolic and diastolic function were seen. Vitamin E treatment exerted a profound improvement in diastolic functional impairment The cardio-protective effect of vitamin E against the development of arrhythmias of total starvation and the improved cardiac diastolic dysfunction following catecholamine administration point to the importance of using vitamin E in fasting states as in Ramadan holy fast in old people and in obese patients on weight reducing regimens