Abstract
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been recognized as a known risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Additionally, studies have shown the prevalence of depression among people with diabetes. Thus, the current study aimed to investigate the possible beneficial effects of escitalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, on metabolic changes and cardiac complications in type 2 diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced by feeding the rats high fat-high fructose diet (HFFD) for 8 weeks followed by a subdiabetogenic dose of streptozotocin (STZ) (35 mg/kg, i. p.). Treatment with escitalopram (10 mg/kg/day; p. o.) was then initiated for 4 weeks. At the end of the experiment, electrocardiography was performed and blood samples were collected for determination of glycemic and lipid profiles. Animals were then euthanized and heart samples were collected for biochemical and histopathological examinations. Escitalopram alleviated the HFFD/STZ-induced metabolic and cardiac derangements as evident by improvement of oxidative stress, inflammatory, fibrogenic and apoptotic markers in addition to hypertrophy and impaired conduction. These results could be secondary to its beneficial effects on the glycemic control and hence the reduction of receptor for advanced glycation end products content as revealed in the present study. In conclusion, escitalopram could be considered a favorable antidepressant medication in diabetic patients as it seems to positively impact the glycemic control in diabetes in addition to prevention of its associated cardiovascular complications.
Highlights
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been recognized as a known risk factor for cardiovascular diseases affecting approximately 32.2% of all persons with T2DM (Einarson et al, 2018)
The present investigation was directed to explore the potential beneficial effects of escitalopram on metabolic changes and cardiac complications induced in HFFD/STZ type 2 diabetic rats
The HFFD/STZ rats showed an increment in their body weight (BW) which could be attributed to the consumption of a diet rich in saturated fats, which would deposit in various body fat pads and decrease energy expenditure (Srinivasan et al, 2005)
Summary
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been recognized as a known risk factor for cardiovascular diseases affecting approximately 32.2% of all persons with T2DM (Einarson et al, 2018). Both clinical and experimental studies have highlighted the existence of a specific diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) (Davidoff et al, 2004; De Rosa et al, 2018) which is attributed to structural and functional changes of the myocardium, independent of other coexisting heart conditions (Miki et al, 2013; Gulsin et al, 2019). Pro-inflammatory cytokines can affect cardiac contractility where they exert negative inotropic effects on the heart, resulting in a rapid contractile dysfunction and interfering with the excitation-contraction coupling (Frati et al, 2017)
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