Resveratrol supplementation or diet intervention effects on heart-liver axis in prediabetic female rats submitted to high-fat-high-sucrose diet

Abstract

NAFLD and type 2 diabetes (T2D) share a bidirectional relationship and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) as leading death cause, but this relationship in prediabetes is still poorly known, especially for women which exhibit an exacerbated CVD risk. Here, we evaluated the effects of resveratrol supplementation (RSV) or diet intervention on the heart-liver axis of prediabetic female rats submitted to high-fat-high-sucrose diet (HFS). Forty Female Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups fed for 5 months with: a standard diet (CTRL), HFS diet (HFS), HFS diet supplemented for the last 2 months with RSV (1 mg/kg/day in water) (RSV) or HFS diet for 3 months followed by 2 months of standard diet (RSD). In vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging was performed to study cardiac morphology/function. Then, tolerance to ischemia-reperfusion injury was investigated ex vivo by simultaneous measurement of cardiac function (RPP, EDP) and energy metabolism by 31P Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Hepatic total lipid and triglycerides (TG) contents along expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism/inflammation were studied. HFS induced glucose intolerance (P < 0.01), increased diastolic left ventricular volume and thickness (P < 0.05) and heart weight to tibia length ratio (HTLR) (P < 0.01). HFS diet also altered myocardial tolerance to IR, with impaired RPP and EDP (P < 0.001) and PCr during reperfusion (P < 0.05). Both treatments improved glucose tolerance (P < 0.05). Importantly, despite maintained HFS diet, RSV restored the elevated diastolic volume and thickness in vivo (P < 0.01 CTRL, RSV vs. HFS, RSD) and HTLR level (P < 0.001 CTRL, RSV vs. HFS, RSD), conversely to RSD. Both treatments improved the tolerance to IR, with increased RPP (P < 0.05 vs. HFS) along with PCr during reperfusion (P < 0.001, P < 0.01 vs. HFS respectively). Only RSV decreased EDP during IR injury (P < 0.05). In the liver HFS diet induced total lipid and TG accumulation (P < 0.01) as well as elevated expression of lipid oxidation/peroxidation genes without effect on lipogenesis and inflammation cytokines genes. Both treatments normalized hepatic total lipid levels. RSD restored TG levels along elevated lipid metabolism gene expressions (P < 0.01) whereas RSV partially reduced the increase (P < 0.05). Despite maintained HFS and moderate hepatic lipid metabolism effects, RSV exhibited better cardioprotection than RSD, suggesting its potential to protect against early cardiac alterations associated with prediabetes and NAFLD, especially for women.