Astaxanthin improves lipotoxicity, lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress in kidney of sucrose-rich diet-fed rats

Metabolic Syndrome (MS) is a cluster of metabolic risk factors, characterized by abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, insulin resistance, among others. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the astaxanthin (AXT) effects extracted from freshwater crab (Dilocarcinus pagei) at the Paraná Basin on lipotoxicity, lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress in the kidney of rats fed with a sucrose-rich diet (SRD). We hypothesized that daily administration of AXT prevents kidney damage by reducing lipotoxicity, lipid peroxidation, and reactive oxygen species (ROS), and by improving antioxidant enzyme defenses and crosstalk between NrF2 and NF-ĸB transcription factors. Male Wistar rats were fed a reference diet (RD), RD+AXT, SRD and SRD+AXT (AXT daily oral dose: [10 mg/kg body weight]) for 90 days. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, biochemical assays in serum and urine were evaluated. Renal cortex samples were taken for histological analysis, determination of triglyceride content, ROS, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR) enzyme activities and glutathione content (GSH). 4-HNE, NrF2, and NF-ĸB p65 expression were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. We demonstrated that daily oral supplementation of AXT to animals fed a SRD reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure, histological renal damage, lipid accumulation, ROS and lipid peroxidation, and increased CAT and GPx activities. NrF2 protein expression in renal cortex was increased, whilst NF-ĸB p65 was reduced. AXT extracted from freshwater crabs (Dilocarcinus pagei) may be promising nutritional strategy for the prevention of renal alterations present in this model.