Effect of carvacrol on the appoptosis in cardiac tissue of high-fat diet induced obese rats

Abstract

Nowadays obesity is one of the problems of different developed and developing societies.Obesity and overweight due to high-fat diet ingestion is one of the most important causes of mortality in developed and developing countries.One of mechanisms which plays a role in etiology of cardiovascular disease is apoptosis. Many studies has confirmed the anti-apoptotic effects of carvacrol in different tissues. The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of carvcrol on appoptosis-related genes in cardiac tissue of high-fat diet (HFD) male rats. Methods: 24 male wistar rats weighting 180 g were randomly allocated into 3 expermental groups (each in 8) as follows: Control group (C), high-fat-diet (HFD), and high-fat-diet + Carvacrol (HFD + Carva). In HFD groups, rats were received HFD for 12 weeks. In HFD+ Carvacrol group, carvacrol was injected intaperitoneally at 50 mg/kbw every two days in the last four weeks. Finally, At the end of the 12-week, animals were euthanized and the expression of TNF-α and appoptosis related genes was monitored along with pathological changes in the cardiac tissues. Results: Data showed pathological changes in cardiac tissue of HFD groups coincided with up-regulation of TNF-α, Bax and Caspase-3 and down-regulation of Bcl-2 compared to the control group. Carvacrol had potential to inhibit HFD-induced changes.