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; STOKER C; LUQUE EH; ANDREOLI MF; LAZZARINO GP

NUTRITION RESEARCH

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 36 p. 1004 - 1012

0271-5317

Removing dietary phytoestrogens causes obesity and diabetes in adult male rats. Based on thefacts that hypothalamic food intake control is disrupted in phytoestrogen-deprived animalsand that several steroids affect food intake, we hypothesized that phytoestrogen withdrawalalters the expression of hypothalamic steroidogenic enzymes. Male Wistar rats fed with ahigh-phytoestrogen diet from conception to adulthood were subjected to phytoestrogenwithdrawal by feeding them a low-phytoestrogen diet or a high-phytoestrogen, high-fat diet.Withdrawal of dietary phytoestrogens increased 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and P450aromatase gene expression and decreased those of 5α-reductase-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 estrogen receptor (ER)α correlated with low levels of ERα-O, ERα-OS, and ERα-OTtranscripts. Variations in gene expression of steroidogenic enzymes may affect the content ofneurosteroids. As neurosteroids are related to food intake control, the changes observed maybe a novel mechanism in the regulation of energy balance in obese phytoestrogen-deprivedanimals. In rats, steroidogenesis and ER signaling appear to be altered by phytoestrogenwithdrawal in the rat. The ubiquity of phytoestrogens in the diet and changing intakes orwithdrawal suggest that aspects of human health could be affected based on the rat andwarrant further research