Rhodiola pre-conditioning reduces exhaustive exercise-induced myocardial injury of insulin resistant mice

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 20277 - 9
• Main Authors: You, Baiyang, Cheng, Jing, Dun, Yaoshan, Ripley-Gonzalez, Jeffrey W., Liu, Jie, Li, Dezhao, Fu, Siqian, Hong, Chuangxiong, Liu, Suixin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23.11.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/80/642/333; 692/4019/592; 692/700/565/1436; Animals; Antioxidants; Antioxidants - pharmacology; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - metabolism; Heart; Heart Injuries - drug therapy; Heart Injuries - prevention & control; High fat diet; Humanities and Social Sciences; Insulin; Insulin resistance; Insulin Resistance - physiology; Metabolic disorders; Metabolic syndrome; Metabolism; Mice; Mitochondria; multidisciplinary; NF-E2-Related Factor 2; Rhodiola; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-20376-4

Myocardial injury reduction and recovery under acute cardiac stress are adversely impacted by insulin resistance (IR). We previously demonstrated that Rhodiola improved cardiac anti-stress capacity in mice. Thus, this study focuses on the preventive efficacy of Rhodiola on exhaustive exercise (EE)-induced myocardial injury of IR mice. An 8-week high-fat diet (HFD) model of IR mice was established. Rhodiola was administrated by garaging. After the 8-week intervention, half of the mice performed EE to simulate acute cardiac stress, and determine myocardial injury; The remaining mice were sacrificed following fasting to assess metabolic disorder. We found myocardial injury induced by EE in IR mice was worse and was alleviated by Rhodiola pre-conditioning. Further, the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-related antioxidant system was impaired by HFD, while mitochondrial dynamic fusion and fission were activated by HFD as a physiological protective compensation. The Rhodiola administration rescued Nrf2 impairment and further facilitated mitochondrial fusion and fission. All these results indicate that Rhodiola is a potential treatment for the prevention of cardiac events in type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome patients, and the Nrf2-related antioxidant activity and mitochondrial dynamics are the proposed mechanisms.