17β-Estradiol protects against the effects of a high fat diet on cardiac glucose, lipid and nitric oxide metabolism in rats.
The aim of this study was to investigate the in vivo effects of 17β-estradiol (E2) on myocardial metabolism and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression/activity in obese rats. Male Wistar rats were fed with a normal or a high fat (HF) diet (42% fat) for 10 weeks. Half of the HF fed rats were treated with a single dose of E2 while the other half were placebo-treated. 24 h after treatment animals were sacrificed. E2 reduced cardiac free fatty acid (FFA) (p < 0.05), L-arginine (p < 0.01), iNOS mRNA (p < 0.01), and protein (p < 0.05) levels and translocation of the FFA transporter (CD36) (p < 0.01) to the plasma membrane (PM) in HF fed rats. In contrast, Akt phosphorylation at Thr308 (p < 0.05) and translocation of the glucose transporter GLUT4 (p < 0.05) to the PM increased after E2 treatment in HF rats. Our results indicate that E2 acts via the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway to partially protect myocardial metabolism by attenuating the detrimental effects of increased iNOS expression/activity in HF fed rats.
['Zafirovic|Sonja|S|', 'Obradovic|Milan|M|', 'Sudar-Milovanovic|Emina|E|', 'Jovanovic|Aleksandra|A|', 'Stanimirovic|Julijana|J|', 'Stewart|Alan J|AJ|', 'Pitt|Samantha J|SJ|', 'Isenovic|Esma R|ER|']
D000818:Animals D059305:Diet, High-Fat D004958:Estradiol D005227:Fatty Acids D005247:Feeding Behavior D005947:Glucose D050356:Lipid Metabolism D008297:Male D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins D009206:Myocardium D009566:Nitrates D009569:Nitric Oxide D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II D009573:Nitrites D010766:Phosphorylation D020011:Protective Agents D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt D017208:Rats, Wistar D011960:Receptors, Estrogen
Myocardial metabolism Inducible nitric oxide synthase Obesity Cardiovascular diseases Estradiol