The Influence of a High-Cholesterol Diet and Forced Training on Lipid Metabolism and Intestinal Microbiota in Male Wistar Rats

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2024-05, Vol.25 (10), p.5383
• Main Authors: Sidorova, Yuliya S, Petrov, Nikita A, Markova, Yuliya M, Kolobanov, Alexey I, Zorin, Sergey N
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biomarkers - blood; Body composition; Body fat; Body Weight; Cardiovascular disease; Cholesterol; Cholesterol - blood; Cholesterol, Dietary; Chronic illnesses; Diabetes; Diet; Diet, High-Fat - adverse effects; Exercise; Experiments; Fatty acids; Food; Gastrointestinal Microbiome - drug effects; Glucose; Homeostasis; hypercholesterolemia; Hyperlipidemia; Insulin resistance; intestinal microbiota; lipid metabolism; Lipid Metabolism - drug effects; Lipids; liver; Liver - metabolism; Liver diseases; Male; Medical equipment and supplies industry; Medical test kit industry; Metabolism; Metabolites; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Obesity; physical activity; Physical Conditioning, Animal; Physiological aspects; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Triglycerides - blood; Type 2 diabetes
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms25105383

Adequate experimental animal models play an important role in an objective assessment of the effectiveness of medicines and functional foods enriched with biologically active substances. The aim of our study was a comparative assessment of the effect of consumption of 1 or 2% cholesterol with and without regular (two times a week), moderate running exercise on the main biomarkers of lipid and cholesterol metabolism, as well as the intestinal microbiota of male Wistar rats. In experimental rats, a response of 39 indicators (body weight, food consumption, serum biomarkers, liver composition, and changes in intestinal microbiota) was revealed. Total serum cholesterol level increased 1.8 times in animals consuming cholesterol with a simultaneous increase in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (2 times) and decrease in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.3 times) levels compared to the control animals. These animals had 1.3 times increased liver weight, almost 5 times increased triglycerides level, and more than 6 times increased cholesterol content. There was a tendency towards a decrease in triglycerides levels against the background of running exercise. The consumption of cholesterol led to a predominance of the family, due to a decrease in (1.2 times) and bifidobacteria (1.3 times), as well as an increase in family (1.2 times). The running exercise did not lead to the complete normalization of microbiota.