Dietary supplementation with a specific melon concentrate reverses vascular dysfunction induced by cafeteria diet
Sammanfattning
Background: Obesity-related metabolic syndrome is associated with high incidence of cardiovascular diseases
partially consecutive to vascular dysfunction. Therapeutic strategies consisting of multidisciplinary interventions
include nutritional approaches. Benefits of supplementation with a specific melon concentrate,
enriched in superoxide dismutase (SOD), have previously been shown on the development of insulin resistance
and inflammation in a nutritional hamster model of obesity.
Objective: We further investigated arterial function in this animal model of metabolic syndrome and studied
the effect of melon concentrate supplementation on arterial contractile activity.
Design and results: The study was performed on a hamster model of diet-induced obesity. After a 15-week
period of cafeteria diet, animals were supplemented during 4 weeks with a specific melon concentrate
(Cucumis melo L.) Contractile responses of isolated aorta to various agonists and antagonists were studied
ex vivo. Cafeteria diet induced vascular contractile dysfunction associated with morphological remodeling.
Melon concentrate supplementation partially corrected these dysfunctions; reduced morphological alterations;
and improved contractile function, especially by increasing nitric oxide bioavailability and expression
of endogenous SOD.
Conclusions: Supplementation with the specific melon concentrate improves vascular dysfunction associated
with obesity. This beneficial effect may be accounted for by induction of endogenous antioxidant defense.
Such an approach in line with nutritional interventions could be a useful strategy to manage metabolic
syndromeinduced cardiovascular trouble.