Protective effects of copper nanoparticles green-formulated by Ginkgo biloba leaf extract on cardiac function in obese insulin-resistant rats

Abstract

Ginkgo biloba has been revealed to have cardioprotective and antioxidant potentials. But, the efficacy of the copper nanoparticles green-formulated by Ginkgo biloba on the cardiac mitochondria, heart rate variability, and cardiac function are poorly defined. Initially, the plan, Ginkgo biloba extract was coated on the surface of graphene oxide. The as-prepared nanoparticles were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis. It has been shown that the Cu NPs with spherical shape and uniform size were dispersed on the NPs surface. In the animal part, 60 % of energy from fat was used for inducing obesity. Then, the animals were divided to four groups: control rats were fed with the usual diet, untreated rats were fed with high-fat-diet, and treated rats were fed with high-fat-diet + Cu NPs@Ginkgo biloba (30 and 60 µg/kg/day). In this study, the cardiac mitochondrial function, cardiac function, heart rate variability (HRV), and metabolic parameters were determined. The levels of oxidative stress, total cholesterol, plasma insulin levels, visceral fat, and body weight increased and cardiac mitochondrial dysfunction and HRV reduced in the untreated group. Treatment with Cu NPs@Ginkgo biloba reduced oxidative stress, homeostasis model assessment index, total cholesterol, and plasma insulin and regulated cardiac mitochondrial function and HRV in rats. The above results confirm the cardioprotective effects of Cu NPs@Ginkgo biloba. According to the above findings, the recent nanoparticles may be used as a cardioprotective drug or supplement for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases after doing the clinical trial studies in humans.