Fish Oil Normalizes Plasma Glucose Levels and Improves Liver Carbohydrate Metabolism in Rats Fed a Sucrose-Rich Diet

HEIN, G. J.; CHICCO, A. G.; LOMBARDO, Y. B.

LIPIDS

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG

Lugar: Champaign, Illinois, USA; Año: 2012 vol. 47 p. 141 - 150

0024-4201

High sucrose diets induce insulin resistance and dyslipidemia with impaired hepatic glucose production and gluconeogenesis, accompanied by altered post-receptor insulin signaling steps. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of fish oil (FO) to reverse or improve the impaired hepatic glucose metabolism once installed in rats chronically fed (8 months) a sucrose-rich diet (SRD). In the liver of rats fed SRD in which FO replaced corn-oil as a source of dietary fat several key enzyme activities and metabolites involved in glucose metabolisms (phosphorylation, glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and oxidative and non oxidative glucose pathway) were measured. The protein mass levels of IRS-1 and ap85 PI-3K at basal conditions were also analyzed. FO improved the altered activities of some enzymes involved in the glycolytic and oxidative pathways observed in the liver of SRD fed rats but was unable to restore the impaired capacity of glucose phosphorylation. Moreover FO reversed the increased of PEPCK and G-6-Pase and reduced the G-6-Pase/GK ratio. Glycogen concentration and GSa activity returned to levels similar to those observed in the liver of the control-fed rats. Besides, FO did not modify the altered protein mass levels of IRS-1 and ap85 PI-3K. Finally, dietary FO was effective in reversing or improving the impaired activities of several key enzymes of hepatic carbohydrate metabolism contributing, at least in part, to the normalization of plasma glucose levels in the SRD-fed rats. However, these positive effects of FO were not observed under basal conditions in the early steps of insulin signaling transduction.