High fat (HF) diet during development and throughout life does not increase oxidative stress in female borderline hypertensive rats (BHR)

Abstract

HF diet is associated with oxidative stress and cardiovascular disease. Our aim here was to determine if HF stimulates reactive oxygen species in female rats with a genetic predisposition to mild hypertension. Female Wistar rats were fed a HF (60% lard, n=6) or low fat (LF, 10% lard, n=6) diet for 8 wk, then mated with male spontaneously hypertensive rats to yield BHR offspring. Dams were maintained on the same diets though gestation and lactation. At weaning, female offspring from LF dams were fed normal chow while the offspring from HF dams were placed on a HF "junk food" diet for over 10 months. HF diet increased body weight (499±32 vs 412±19 g, p<0.05 vs LF) but had no effect on blood pressure (118±7 vs 128±4, anesthetized direct arterial measurement). Markers of oxidative stress, renal and plasma TBARS and plasma H2O2 levels, were similar between groups. No significant changes were observed in the protein expression of any of the isoforms of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the renal cortex. In conclusion, female BHR do not exhibit increased oxidative stress in response to prolonged HF diet.