Cardioprotective effect of Phyllanthus amarus against high fructose diet induced myocardial and aortic stress in rat model

Abstract Increased number of population with heart stroke/attack is attributed to sedentary lifestyle and consumption of high-sugar diets, especially fructose. The objective of this study is to investigate the cardio-protective activity of aqueous extract of Phyllanthus amarus (PAAE) against high-fructose (HF) diet induced cardiac damage in Wistar rats. Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into five groups of six animals each: Control (C), Control treated with PAAE (C + PAAE), High fructose diet fed (F), High fructose diet fed treated with PAAE (F + PAAE) and High fructose diet fed treated with Pioglitazone (F + Pio). PAAE was orally administered at a dosage of 200 mg/kg body weight/day to C + PAAE and F + PAAE group rats for 60 days. Pioglitazone (10 mg/kg body weight/day) was used to compare the efficacy of PAAE. After 60 days, heart and aorta samples were collected for biochemical and histological analysis. Co-administration of PAAE along with HF-diet for 60 days prevented the increase in levels of cardiac and aortic lipids i.e. , total lipids, triglycerides, total cholesterol and free fatty acids and decreased phospholipids. Further, enhanced activities of cardiac aldose reductase (15.3%) and sorbital dehydrogenase (6.9%) and decreased activity of creatine kinase (35.6%) in group-F were also prevented by PAAE treatment with the recovery of 126% for AR, 122% for SDH and 118% for CK. PAAE treatment showed protection from HF-diet induced increase in stress markers (LPO and PO), decreased non-enzymatic (GSH and Vit-C) and enzymatic (GR, GPx, GST, SOD, and CAT) antioxidants in the heart and aorta. Histopathological examination of the heart and aorta indicated that PAAE/Pio treatment reduced fat deposition and necrosis. The present study clearly indicates the cardio protection efficacy of PAAE against HF-diet induced oxidative stress in rats.