Dietary withdrawal of phytoestrogens resulted in higher gene expression of 3- beta-HSD and ARO but lower 5-alpha-R-1 in male rats

ROSSETTI MF; RAMOS JG; ROSSETTI MF; RAMOS JG; ANDREOLI MF; LAZZARINO GP; ANDREOLI MF; LAZZARINO GP; STOKER C; LUQUE EH; STOKER C; LUQUE EH

NUTRITION RESEARCH

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 p. 1004 - 1012

0271-5317

Removing dietary phytoestrogens causes obesity and diabetes in adult male rats. Basedon the facts that hypothalamic food intake control is disrupted in phytoestrogen-deprivedanimals and that several steroids affect food intake, we hypothesized that phytoestrogenwithdrawal alters the expression of hypothalamic steroidogenic enzymes. Male Wistarrats fed with a high-phytoestrogen diet from conception to adulthood were subjected tophytoestrogen withdrawal by feeding them a low-phytoestrogen diet, or a highphytoestrogen?high fat diet. Withdrawal of dietary phytoestrogens increased 3HSDand ARO gene expression and decreased those of 5R-1. This is a direct effect of thelack of dietary phytoestrogens and not a consequence of obesity, as it was not observed inhigh-fat fed rats. Phytoestrogen withdrawal and high-fat diet intake reduced hypothalamicexpression of ERcorrelated with low levels of ER-O, ER-OS and ER-OTtranscripts. Variations in gene expression of steroidogenic enzymes may affect thecontent of neurosteroids. As neurosteroids are related to food intake control, the changesobserved may be a novel mechanism in the regulation of energy balance in obesephytoestrogen-deprived animals. In rats, steroidogenesis and estrogen receptor signalingappear to be altered by phytoestrogen withdrawal in the rat. The ubiquity ofphytoestrogens in the diet and changing intakes or withdrawal suggest that aspects ofhuman health could be affected based on the rat and warrant further research.