Naringin Improves Diet-Induced Cardiovascular Dysfunction and Obesity in High Carbohydrate, High Fat Diet-Fed Rats

Abstract

Obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension and fatty liver, together termed metabolic syndrome, are key risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Chronic feeding of a diet high in saturated fats and simple sugars, such as fructose and glucose, induces these changes in rats. Naturally occurring compounds could be a cost-effective intervention to reverse these changes. Flavonoids are ubiquitous secondary plant metabolites; naringin gives the bitter taste to grapefruit. This study has evaluated the effect of naringin on diet-induced obesity and cardiovascular dysfunction in high carbohydrate, high fat-fed rats. These rats developed increased body weight, glucose intolerance, increased plasma lipid concentrations, hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy and fibrosis, liver inflammation and steatosis with compromised mitochondrial respiratory chain activity. Dietary supplementation with naringin (approximately 100 mg/kg/day) improved glucose intolerance and liver mitochondrial dysfunction, lowered plasma lipid concentrations and improved the structure and function of the heart and liver without decreasing total body weight. Naringin normalised systolic blood pressure and improved vascular dysfunction and ventricular diastolic dysfunction in high carbohydrate, high fat-fed rats. These beneficial effects of naringin may be mediated by reduced inflammatory cell infiltration, reduced oxidative stress, lowered plasma lipid concentrations and improved liver mitochondrial function in rats.

Naringin ameliorates endothelial dysfunction in fructose-fed rats

“…Previous studies have reported that naringin treatment improved endothelial dysfunction in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (25) and high carbohydrate, high fat diet-fed rats (21). In this study, the treatment of fructose fed rats with naringin for 4 weeks restored ACh-induced relaxation in aortae to levels similar to those observed in control rats ( Fig.…”

“…Naringin (100 mg/kg/day) or the vehicle 0.1% CMC was administered daily by oral gavage for the last 4 weeks of fructose feeding. The concentration of naringin used in the present study was selected according to previous studies using animal models which indicated that this dosage exerted improving vascular dysfunction (21).…”

“…Naringin and its colonic metabolite, WACHIRAWADEE MALAKUL 1 , SIRINAT PENGNET 2 , CHANON KUMCHOOM 1 and SAKARA TUNSOPHON naringenin, have been reported to possess antihyperglycemic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and antihyperlipidemic effects (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). Moreover, naringin has been shown to exhibit cardiovascular protective effects in animal models by preserving endothelial function, enhancing NO bioavailability, and reducing oxidative stress (21,25). Based on these findings, we hypothesized that naringin may improve endothelial dysfunction through its modulation of NO bioavailabity and oxidative stress.…”

Therapeutic potential of naringin: an overview

“…In rats fed a HFD, naringin improved metabolic syndrome to a similar extent as rutin or quercetin. Naringin enhanced NO production, improved endothelial function and decreased the cerebral thrombotic tendency (Alam et al 2013). In diabetic rodents, administration of naringin resulted in the downregulation of key gluconeogenic enzymes including glucose-6-phosphatase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (Pu et al 2012).…”

Ameliorative effect of naringin against doxorubicin-induced acute cardiac toxicity in rats

“…only, daily for 14 d (Figure 2). Naringin doses were selected based on the earlier experimental studies reporting its antioxidant, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, and neuroprotective activities (Alam et al, 2013;Gaur et al, 2009). Doxorubicin dose was selected on the basis of previously reported studies for its potential cardiotoxicity in mice as well as rats (Jagetia & Reddy, 2014;Mantawy et al, 2014).…”