Effect of cholesterol and fructose supplementation on the biochemical parameters, hormonal, oxidative stress and histopathology of the abdominal aorta of young male and female Wistar rats in growth

Background In Algeria, the modernization of our society induced a sudden change in our eating habits. Indeed, children and adolescent are the main target of junk food. Among the youngest, the excessive consumption of foods with high energy values constitute a conjunction of risk factors exposing them to the risk of developing metabolic and cardiovascular pathologies. Purpose Our objective is to study the impact of cholesterol and fructose supplemented diet on the metabolic, hormonal, and oxidative status and on the histopathology of the abdominal aorta of young male and female Wistar rats during growth. Methods Wistar rats, 5 to 6 weeks old, are divided into male (MT, n =  6) and female control group (FT, n =  6), in male (MC, n =  6) and female (FC, n =  6) experimental group 1 supplemented daily with 3% cholesterol and 1.5% sodium cholates by force-feeding, and in a second experimental group male (MCF, n =  6) and female (FCF, n =  6) supplemented daily with 3% cholesterol and 1.5% sodium cholates by force-feeding plus free access to a 15% fructose solution. Results Twelve weeks later, we assessed biochemical parameters (glycemia, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDLc, HDLc and uric acid), insulin and oxidative stress parameters (MDA, GPx and NO). Moreover, we analyzed the histo-morphometry of the abdominal aorta for all animals. These results are compared with those obtained in matched control rats. In groups 1 and 2, hyper-caloric diets caused statistically significant disruption of the plasma biochemical parameters ( Table 1 ), as previously reported [1] , [2] , [3] and has a significant increase on oxidative stress parameters [4] , [5] . Otherwise, the morphological examination revealed vascular remodeling illustrated by thickening of the arterial walls and important tissue and cell alterations of the studied abdominal aorta [3] , [6] , [7] . Conclusion Hyper-caloric diets composed resulted in metabolic, hormonal and oxidative disorders which may be at the origin of the multiple abdominal aortic wall thickening and tissue lesions observed in both male and female growing Wistar rats.