Official journal of the Slovak Society of Cardiology,
Slovak Society of Hypertension and Slovak Association for Cardiac Arrhythmias

Cardiology Letters 2012, 21(5):388-396

Salutary effects of red palm oil intake on post-ischemic heart recovery and incidence of malignant arrhythmias demonstrated in hypertensive rats

Viczenczova C, Bacova B, Radosinska J1, Knezl V2, Benova T, Goncalvesova E3, Tribulova N
1 Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava
2 Institute of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, SAS in Bratislava
3 The National Cardiovascular Institute in Bratislava, Institute for Heart Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Cardiac connexin-43 (Cx43) channels at the gap junctions play a crucial role in synchronizing the myocardium, allowing electrical and molecular signals propagation amongst cardiomyocytes. Previously we have shown that up-regulation of Cx43 is most likely involved in the antiarrhythmic mechanisms of omega-3 fatty acids. The aim of this study was to explore whether antioxidant rich red palm oil (RPO) may offer protection from malignant arrhythmias and/or attenuate an abnormal myocardial Cx43 expression in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Untreated hypertensive and age-matched normotensive rats were compared with those supplemented by 200microL/day RPO for 5 weeks. Left ventricular tissue was used for real time PCR analysis, immunoblotting and in situ immunostaining to determine Cx43 gene and protein expression as well as Cx43 distribution. The isolated perfused heart was used to examine post-ischemic reperfusioninduced arrhythmias, electrically inducible ventricular fibrillation (VF) and heart function. Results showed that the expression of Cx43-mRNA and total Cx43 proteins as well as its functional phosphorylated forms were increased and disordered myocardial localization of Cx43 was attenuated in the left ventricles of RPO-fed SHR compared to those untreated. This was associated with suppression of post-ischemic reperfusion-related ventricular tachycardia and electrically-inducible VF, as well as with better post-ischemic heart recovery. However, the treatment dose of RPO caused down-regulation of myocardial Cx43 in normotensive rats, and was associated with poor arrhythmia protection and cardiodepression suggesting overdose. In conclusion, our results indicate that SHR benefit from RPO intake particularly due to better post-ischemic heart recovery and protection from malignant arrhythmias. This cardioprotection can be partially attributed to up-regulation of myocardial Cx43. It appears that consumption of RPO might be salutary in hypertensive individuals, and should be examined by clinicians.

Keywords: hypertensive rats; red palm oil; myocardial connexin43; malignant arrhythmias; heart function

Published: May 1, 2012  Show citation

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Viczenczova C, Bacova B, J R, V K, Benova T, E G, Tribulova N. Salutary effects of red palm oil intake on post-ischemic heart recovery and incidence of malignant arrhythmias demonstrated in hypertensive rats. Cardiology Letters. 2012;21(5):388-396.
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