Background: Western diet (WD) has been known to promote cardiac oxidative stress in models of hypertension and obesity. Pentoxifylline (PTX) is a potent antioxidant. The impact of PTX and WD on cardiac oxidative status in healthy hearts is unclear.
Aim: we aimed to determine the impact of WD and/or PTX on blood pressure and myocardial oxidative status in normal rat hearts.
Method: Young adult Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned into four groups; conventional diet (control), WD, PTX, or simultaneous combination of WD + PTX for 10 weeks. Blood pressure, lipids levels, and cardiac levels of oxidants and antioxidants were measured.
Result: WD was associated with an increase in triglyceride level and a mild increase in systolic blood pressure (SBP), whereas PTX reduced SBP. Relative to control, no changes were observed in levels of TNF alpha and glutathione (GSH) system, however, a significant decrease in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) level was observed in all groups with a parallel increase in catalase activities. Superoxide dismutase and catalase activities were increased in the PTX group. Relative to the WD group, the WD + PTX group was associated with a significant increase in the activities of GSH peroxidase and reductase.
Conclusions: The decrease in TBARS levels and the increase in catalase activities suggest that normal hearts adapt compensatory mechanisms to prevent oxidative damage in response to the mild increase in SBP associated with WD. Use of PTX with WD further enhanced antioxidant activities probably to balance the potential increase in reactive oxygen species.
Keywords: Blood pressure; Western diet; cardiac oxidative stress; pentoxifyllin.