Erythrocyte membrane integrity and protein activity in high fat diet fed male Wistar rats

AbstractPurposeHigh fat diet (HFD) has been reported to induce systemic inflammation and oxidative stress that may affect the structural integrity of erythrocytes and alter their ability to undergo deformation. This study was therefore designed to investigate the effect of HFD feeding on erythrocyte membrane integrity and protein activity in male Wistar rats.MethodsTen animals (100-120g) were grouped equally and exposed to either standard diet or HFD (25%-fat) for 42days. Thereafter, retro-orbital sinus blood was collected under anesthesia (thiopental) and aliquots were analyzed for erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), osmotic fragility and mean corpuscular fragility. Erythrocyte ghost membranes were also isolated from blood sample aliquots and analyzed for total protein concentration, malondialdehyde (MDA), Na+K+-ATPase activity, Ca2+Mg2+-ATPase activity and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-4 level.ResultsOsmotic fragility and mean corpuscular fragility were significantly increased (P<0.05) in the HFD-fed group compared to control. ESR (mm/hr) (64.60±2.34 vs. 21.20±1.53), membrane MDA (µMol) (3.66±0.86 vs. 0.43±0.08) and ICAM-4 (ng/ml) (1.68±0.23 vs. 0.49±0.16) levels were also increased (P<0.05) in the group 2 (HFD) compared to group 1 (standard diet). Compared to standard diet group, erythrocyte membrane total protein concentration (10.46±0.96 vs 6.00±0.38 g/dl) and Na+K+ATPase activity (1.37±0.22 vs 0.22±0.03 x107µmol pi/mg protein/hr) was reduced (P<0.05) in the HFD group while Ca2+Mg2+-ATPase exhibited a 27.9% increase in activity.ConclusionThis study suggests that high fat diet may compromise the structural and functional integrity of erythrocytes by activating systemic inflammation, erythrocyte membrane and protein oxidation as well dysregulated membrane ATPase activity required to maintain erythrocyte deformability in male Wistar rat.