Suplementação alimentar com Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis previne os danos causados pelo consumo de dieta hipercalórica sobre a reatividade contrátil e estresse oxidativo no íleo de ratos wistar

Abstract

Obesity is a chronic condition characterized by excessive accumulation of fat from the consumption of hypercaloric diets that may favor the development of gastrintestinal diseases and disorders, associated with oxidative stress and the secretion and release of inflammatory mediators. The seaweed Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis (AP) is widely used in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries, and has been the subject of several studies, mainly due to its rich chemical and nutritional composition and its health benefits, in addition to its antioxidant potential. However, there are still no studies involving food supplementation with AP in preventing the deleterious effects promoted by the consumption of a hypercaloric diet on oxidative stress and intestinal reactivity in the ileum of rats, as well as the possible adjacent mechanisms of action involved. Thus, aiming at the search for new therapeutic alternatives, the effects of AP were evaluated in a model of experimental obesity induced by a hypercaloric diet and the mechanisms by which the seaweed prevents damage to the contractile reactivity of the rat ileum. The experimental procedures were approved by the UFPB Ethics Committee on Animal Use (certificate 2352101019). The Wistar rats were divided into a group fed a standard diet (SD), a group fed a hypercaloric diet (HCD) and a group supplemented with AP at a doseof 25 mg/kg (HCD + AP25), for 8 weeks. Nutritional and histomorphometric parameters, oxidative stress, tissue IL-1β levels and the functional mechanisms of action involved in changes in the contractile reactivity of the ileum, in vitro, were analyzed. Consumption of the hypercaloric diet resulted in an increase in final body mass, as a consequence of weight gain due to caloric consumption, an increase in epididymal, retroperitoneal and inguinal adipose reserves, and in body adiposity, in addition to increasing oxidativestress and IL- 1β, reducing antioxidant proteins and antioxidant capacity (TAC) in the ileum. Interestingly, such deleterious effects promoted by the consumption of a hypercaloric diet on parameters of experimental obesity and oxidative stress were prevented by dietary supplementation with A. platensis. Regarding the intestinal contractile reactivity of the ileum, the rats (HCD) showed reduced contractile efficacy to CCh (pharmacomechanical coupling), which were prevented by AP. These preventive effects of the seaweed were associated with the positive modulation of Rho kinase (ROCK), nitric oxide (NO), contractile prostanoids and antioxidant system pathways through SOD. The integration of pathways that favor intestinal contraction may underlie the preventive histomorphological changes evidenced by the action of AP in the ileum of rats, as well as the presence of gamma linolenic acid (GLA), as the major component of the alga. Therefore, food supplementation with A. platensis prevents the damage associated with the consumption of a hypercaloric diet and emerges a adjuvant in the prevention of obesity and diseases and/or intestinal disorders aggravated by it.