Author(s)

Jingshang Wang, Huijun Yin, Ye Huang, Chunyu Guo, Chengdong Xia, Lu Zhang

Department of Cardiovascular Disease, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Department of Emergency, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Department of Endocrinology, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.

Aim: To observe the expression changes of Akt and GSK-3β during vascular inflammatory response and oxidative stress induced by high-fat diet in rats. Methods: 20 male Sprague-Dawley rats were separately fed for 18 weeks with two types of diets; a normal diet (control group, CON) or high-fat diet hyperlipidmia group, HLP). Then the body weight, lipid parameter, plasma hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) , malondialdehyde (MDA), Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), a Soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), Lectin-like oxidized cellulose low density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1), as well as aortic endothelial p-GSK-3β, GSK-3β, p-Akt, Akt expressions were determined. Results: In comparison with the control group, the model group showed a significant increase in the levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol ( LDL-C) and significant decrease in the level of serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) after high-fat diet for 18 weeks (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). Meanwhile, a more obvious increase of plasma HGF, LOX-1 and serum MDA, TNF-α, and sICAM-1 levels were observed relative to the control group (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). Moreover, high-fat diet significantly increased the phosphorylation of Akt and GSK-3β in rat aorta. Conclusion: Short-term high-fat diet could induce vascular endothelium injury by increasing inflammation and oxidative stress. And PI3K/Akt pathway could play an important role in hyperlipidemia-induced vascular endothelium injury.

High-Fat Diet; Akt and GSK-3β; Vascular Inflammatory Response; Oxidative Stress; Endothelium Injury

Wang, J. , Yin, H. , Huang, Y. , Guo, C. , Xia, C. and Zhang, L. (2013) Expression changes of Akt and GSK-3β during vascular inflammatory response and oxidative stress induced by high-fat diet in rats. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 6, 1-5. doi: 10.4236/jbise.2013.65A001.