Efeitos do óleo de capivara no remodelamento cardíaco de camundongos C57BL/6 alimentados com dieta hiperlipídica

Abstract

Overweight and obesity have a growing prevalence, causing an impact on public health. Statistics show that more than 2/3 of the North American population is affected. In Brazil, the prevalence of overweight was 53.8%, higher among men (57.7%) than among women (50.5%). Overweight and obesity are considered major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, coronary artery disease, stroke, atrial fibrillation, venous thromboembolism, and heart failure. The prevalence of obesity has increased in the last 30 years leading to an increase in cardiovascular diseases. Obesity, especially abdominal adiposity, is associated with the secretion of adipokines, leading to insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, altered lipid profile, and consequently endothelial dysfunction, vascular inflammation, and systemic arterial hypertension, leading to the development of atherosclerosis, the main responsible for cardiovascular mortality. Although a large part of the studies indicate that prevention is the best strategy for the control of cardiovascular disease, when it is installed, it is often necessary to use pharmacological means to control and / or delay its evolution, requiring a constant search for new therapeutic alternatives. The polyunsaturated fatty acids have already demonstrated beneficial cardiovascular effects, which have required the search for new sources of these acids. It has been evidenced that the capybara oil, an animal belonging to the Brazilian fauna, is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which makes it an interesting target for therapeutic use. The present study had the objective to investigate the possible effects of the administration of capybara oil on C57Bl / 6 mice fed control and hyperlipidic diets. We analyzed parameters inherent to body mass, carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, adipocyte remodeling and cardiac remodeling. Capybara oil had a reduction in systolic blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides, improvement in adipocyte morphometry, and improvement of cardiac remodeling in relation to vascularization and reduction of left ventricular hypertrophy. In the ultrastructural analysis, fibrosis reduction, reduction of lipid droplets and greater preservation of mitochondria were observed. Our findings indicate that capybara oil has positive effects, and further studies are needed to validate the use of capybara oil in the prevention or treatment of cardiovascular diseases.