Abstract
Westernized diet is characterized by a high content of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and a low level of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), often accompanied by an imbalance in the omega-6/omega-3 PUFA ratio. Since increased intake of SFA and n-6 PUFA is considered as a cardiovascular disease risk factor, this study was conducted to determine whether a three-month dietary supplementation of high-fat diets (HFDs) with saturated fatty acids and a significant proportion of various n-6 and n-3 PUFA ratios would affect the architecture and protein expression patterns of the murine heart. Therefore, three HFD (n = 6) feeding groups: rich in SFA, dominated by PUFA with the n-6/n-3–14:1, and n-6/n-3–5:1, ratios were compared to animals fed standard mouse chow. For this purpose, we performed two-dimensional electrophoresis with MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry-based identification of differentially expressed cardiac proteins, and a histological examination of cardiac morphology. The results indicated that mice fed with all HFDs developed signs of hypertrophy and cardiac fibrosis. Animals fed SFA-rich HFD manifested the most severe cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis lesions, whereas less pronounced changes were observed in the group of animals that ingested the highest amount of omega-3 FA. In general, all HFDs, regardless of FA composition, evoked a comparable pattern of cardiac protein changes and affected the following biological processes: lipid metabolism and FA β-oxidation, glycolysis, TCA cycle, respiratory chain, myocardium contractility, oxidative stress and PUFA eicosanoid metabolism. However, it should be noted that three proteins, namely IDH3A, LDHB, and AK1, were affected differently by various FA contents. High expression of these myocardial proteins found in the group of animals fed a HFD with the highest n-3 PUFA content could be closely related to the observed development of hypertrophy.
Highlights
Obesity has become a pandemic of the 21st century and is undoubtedly one of the greatest public health challenges for both humans and companion animals
The present study aimed to analyse the effect of a three-month feeding with three types of high-fat diets (HFDs) containing different fatty acids (FAs) using proteomic and histological analysis of murine hearts
Our data indicate that mice fed the HFD rich in saturated fatty acids (SFA) manifested the most severe cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis lesions, whereas less pronounced changes were observed in the group of animals that ingested the highest amount of omega-3 FA
Summary
Obesity has become a pandemic of the 21st century and is undoubtedly one of the greatest public health challenges for both humans and companion animals. High prevalence of obesity is one of the leading causes of elevated cardiovascular diseases (CVD), especially in Western societies [2,3]. It should be highlighted that CVD mortality is closely and directly related to the consumption of a nutrient-poor Western diet [4]. Westernized diet is generally defined as a high dietary intake of sugar, saturated fatty acids (SFA), and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), with associated reduced consumption of n-3 PUFA and fibre [5,6]. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) belong to the group of the so-called essential fatty acids as mammals cannot synthesize n-3 and n-6, and they must be supplied with food [7]
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