Lepidium meyenii (maca) and soy isoflavones reduce cardiac stunning of ischemia-reperfusion in rats by mitochondrial mechanisms

Abstract

Background and aim Phytoestrogens are traditionally used for cardiovascular risks but direct effects on the ischemic heart remain unclear. Plants with phytoestrogens are used for reducing menopausic symptoms and they could also be cardioprotectives. Here we investigated whether maca (Lepidium meyenii ) contains isoflavones and prevents cardiac stunning, in comparison to soy isoflavones. Experimental procedure Both products were orally and daily administered to rats during 1 week before exposing isolated hearts to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). Young male (YM), female (YF) and aged female (AgF) rats treated with maca (MACA, 1 g/kg/day) or soy isoflavones (ISOF, 100 mg/kg/day) were compared to acute daidzein (DAZ, 5 mg/kg i.p.) and non-treated rat groups. Isolated ventricles were perfused inside a calorimeter to simultaneously measure contractile and calorimetrical signals before and during I/R. Results and conclusions Maca has genistein and daidzein. MACA and ISOF improved the post-ischemic contractile recovery (PICR) and muscle economy (P/Ht) in YM and YF hearts, but not in AgF hearts. DAZ improved PICR and P/Ht more in YM than in YF. The mK ATP channels blockade reduced both PICR and P/Ht in DAZ-treated YM hearts, without affecting them in ISOF or MACA-treated YM hearts. In MACA treated YF hearts, the simultaneous blockade of NOS and mK ATP channels, or the mNCX blockade reduced cardioprotection. Results show that subacute oral treatment with maca or with soy isoflavones was strongly preventive of cardiac ischemic dysfunction, more than the acute administration of a pure isoflavone (daidzein, genistein). Maca induced synergistic and complex mechanisms which prevented mitochondrial calcium overload.

Use of Maca Powder (Lepidium meyenii) as Feed Additive in Diets of Laying Quails at Different Ages: Its Effect on Performance, Eggshell Quality, Serum, Ileum, and Bone Properties

“…Researchers have therefore focused on the effects of using a powder or extract of the Maca plant as a food additive for humans [12][13][14]. However, limited studies are available on its use as an ingredient in livestock feed [16][17][18], with most of the available studies involving laboratory rats [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. To our knowledge, there are only two studies examining the effects of adding Maca to quails' diets [16,27], and only one of them has been carried out on laying quails [16].…”

Effects of Black Maca supplement on isokinetics muscular performance of elite women’s handball players: placebo-controlled, crossover study

“…The 20 m-shuttle run is typically used to measure cardiopulmonary endurance, which can be replaced by VO2max as a field test (23). Maca administration also increased the relative proportion of contraction and relaxation before ischemia/recurrent, suggesting that the heart was better prepared for ischemia challenges with higher energy storage and muscle economy (24). Arginine, which is present in Maca, affects endurance and heart (25).…”

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Phytoestrogen Protects Against Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury: Pre-Clinical Evidence From Small Animal Studies

“…PE can suppress mitochondrial swelling and reduce the number of fragmented mitochondria in terms of retaining mitochondrial structure ( Zhai et al, 2001 ). As for the involvement in energy metabolism, PEs has been shown to inhibit the activation RhoA/ROCK signaling ( He et al, 2014 ; Cui et al, 2017 ; Yan et al, 2021 ) as well as activate the mK ATP channels (( Colareda et al, 2020 ), ( Colareda et al, 2021 )), thus promote ATP production. PE also directly or indirectly regulates the activity of mitochondrial complex.…”