Changes in chemical and metabolic properties of rabbit aorta by dietary cholesterol, and saturated and polyunsaturated fats

Effects of copper deficiency on hepatic and cardiac antioxidant enzyme activities in lactose- and sucrose-fed rats

1. A number of dietary sugars are known to mediate the effects of copper deficiency. The effects of lactose (compared with sucrose) and a dietary Cu deficiency on hepatic and cardiac antioxidant enzyme activities and tissue mineral element status were investigated in the rat. 2. Groups (n 6) of male weanling Wistar rats were provided ad lib. with deionized water and diets containing sucrose (580 g/kg) or sucrose and lactose (387 g/kg and 193 g/kg respectively) with either control (12.0 mg/kg) or deficient (1.5 mg/kg) quantities of Cu for 77 d. 3. Animals consuming the low-Cu diets exhibited significantly decreased tissue Cu levels (P less than 0.01), hepatic and cardiac cytochrome c oxidase (EC 1.9.3.1, CCO) activities (P less than 0.01 and P less than 0.001 respectively) and hepatic Cu-zinc superoxide dismutase (EC 1.15.1.1, CuZnSOD) activity (P less than 0.05). The low-Cu diets also significantly decreased cardiac manganese superoxide dismutase (EC 1.15.1.1, MnSOD), catalase (EC 1.11.1.6) and glutathione peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.9, GSH-Px) activities (P less than 0.01, P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.001 respectively). 4. Hepatic Mn was significantly increased in both lactose-fed (P less than 0.001) and Cu-deficient (P less than 0.01) animals. These increases were unrelated to hepatic MnSOD activity. Cardiac Zn was significantly (P less than 0.01) increased in Cu-deficient animals. 5. Lactose feeding resulted in significantly increased cardiac CCO activity (P less than 0.001) but significantly decreased hepatic CuZnSOD (P less than 0.05), catalase (P less than 0.01) and GSH-Px (P less than 0.001) activities. 6. The activities of lactose dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27, LDH) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.49, G6PDH) were found to be significantly (P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.01 respectively) increased in Cu-deficient animals and G6PDH activity was significantly (P less than 0.01) decreased as a result of lactose consumption. 7. The observed changes in antioxidant enzyme activities associated with both Cu deficieny and lactose consumption may have important implications for the development of free radical mediated cell damage. However, no significant differences in either hepatic or cardiac levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, a measure of lipid peroxidation, were found.

Oxygen consumption in aortic tissue from rabbits with diet-induced atherosclerosis

The inner parts of the arterial wall depend upon diffusion for nutrition and oxygenation. During the atherosclerotic process, increased intimal thickness leads to impaired diffusion, and at the same time the oxygen requirements increase. On this basis it has been suggested that the balance between the supply and demand of oxygen in the arterial wall may be important for the fate of the initiated lesion. In the first part of the present study, the oxygen consumption was measured during perfusion in aortic intima-media segments from cholesterol-fed rabbits. The results indicated that the oxygen consumption per DNA increased with increasing degree of atherosclerotic involvement up to a certain level. For more diseased aortas, however, the oxygen consumption decreased again. In the second part of the study, the oxygen consumption was measured in foam cell and smooth muscle cell fractions isolated from rabbit aortic intima-media. These measurements indicated that the oxygen consumption of isolated foam cells was three times higher than that of isolated smooth muscle cells. It is proposed in the study that the increased oxygen consumption of the less diseased aortas reflected an increased proportion of foam cells in the arterial wall. As the lesions grow and the number of foam cells in the intima increases, the available diffusion capacity for oxygen and nutrients to deeper parts of the lesion may become insufficient, leading to the observed decrease in cellular oxygen consumption of the more diseased samples. Hypoxic cell damage and further tissue reactions may occur and the healing of the initiated lesion may be endangered.

Metabolic changes in modified smooth muscle cells of rabbit carotid arteries

In the common carotid artery of rabbits, intimal myocyte proliferations were induced by daily repeated local electrical stimulation of the vessel wall in combination with a cholesterol containing diet given for 4 weeks. Some biochemical parameters of the morphologically modified intimal smooth muscle cells were studied and compared with those of samples obtained from nonstimulated tunica media of the contralateral carotid artery. The results show that in relation to dry weight both alkali extractable protein and DNA content of the proliferates are increased to about 125%. In the proliferates, the in-vivo tissue concentrations of glucose and glycogen are only 50-70% of the normal values, whereas the concentration of lactate is increased to about 160%. In-vitro incubation experiments of excised tissues samples from the intimal proliferates and normal media indicate that under an optimal supply of substrates the glucose uptake and lactate production of the proliferates are increased to 140% and 150%, respectively. This results provides evidence for an increased capacity of glycolysis in the proliferates, which in vivo may lead to a decrease in glucose concentration and to an increased concentration of lactate. This investigation shows that modified smooth muscle cells proliferating in the arterial intima exhibit an activated metabolism as seen in other models of arteriosclerosis.

Regulation of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase by endogenous sterol synthesis in cultured intestinal mucosa

In vitro regulation of the key enzyme of cholesterol synthesis, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (EC 1.1.1.34) by compactin, a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme, and mevalonate was studied in rabbit ileum organ culture. Addition of compactin suppressed ileum homogenate reductase activity by over 80% at concentrations up to 0.5 microgram/ml. In contrast, compactin at the same concentrations added to the culture medium induced reductase activity up to 240% of controls. This increase was blocked by cycloheximide and mevalonolactone at 10 mM, but not by mevalonate (salt form) and cholesterol. Similarly, in contrast to ionized mevalonate, mevalonolactone significantly suppressed reductase activity of cultured intestine at 1 and 10 mM by 23 and 62%, respectively. A minor effect was also observed with preformed enzyme in fresh mucosal homogenate. When endogenous cholesterol synthesis was blocked by compactin, mucosal alkaline phosphatase activity decreased progressively, whereas medium activity from desquamated cells did not change. This distribution of the villous cell marker enzyme is characteristic of a decrease in crypt cell renewal and/or villous cell differentiation. This effect of compactin was also reversible with mevalonolactone. The reductase enzyme induced by compactin was probably latent intracellularly, since tissue cholesterol contents dropped sharply after blockade of endogenous sterol synthesis.