Malted Barley Improved the Structure and Function of Gastrocnemius Muscle of Hypercholesterolemic Mother Rats and their Offspring

Hassan I. El-Sayyad¹*, Osama A. Abbas²  and  Zahraa A. Greash²

¹Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura Univ., Egypt.

²Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Port Said Univ., Egypt.

Corresponding Author E-mail : elsayyad@mans.edu.eg

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/2826

ABSTRACT: Consumption of processed high cholesterol diet is associated with the development of metabolic diseases.  The present work evaluated the role of soaked barley on decreasing the high cholesterol level that impairing the structure and function of the gastrocnemius muscle of mother rats and their offspring. Sixty virgin female albino rats and twenty healthy males (100g body weight) were used in the experimental work. Mating was carried out and pregnancy was determined. Pregnant were arranged into 4 groups (n=15); control (C), barley supplemented group (B) (20%), hypercholesterolemic-group (H) (3%) and hypercholesterolemic & malted barley group (H+B). The third (H) and fourth groups (HB) were consumed hypercholesterolemic diet for 4 months prior to conception and through gestation and lactation period. The fourth group supplemented malted barley containing a hypercholesterolemic diet during gestation and lactation period. At 21 days post-partum, the mother rats and their offspring were anesthetized with sodium phenobarbitone (9.1 mg/kg) and sacrificed. Blood was collected from heart and their sera were separated. Also, the gastrocnemius of both mother and their offspring were removed.  Histological, transmission electron microscopy and biochemical investigations were carried out. The present findings showed that the high cholesterol diet possessed abnormal expression of protein bands (SDS-PAGE), associated with poor expression of lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) isoenzymes coincides with damage of the gastrocnemius muscle fibers. The elevated sera cholesterol level induces a decrease of the muscle contents of glutathione-s-transferase and superoxide dismutase. These were followed by increased the lipid peroxidation malondialdhyde (MDA) and apoptic marker caspase-3. On the other side, dietary supplementation of barley plus a hypercholesterolemic diet increased the muscle contents of the assayed antioxidant enzymes and decreased MDA, caspase 3 and LDH isoenzyme expression. This led to improvement of the muscle structure. The authors concluded that malted barley contained flavonoids and phytonutrients with a potent antioxidant activity which reduced the oxidative stress resulted from ingestion of hypercholesterolemic diet. This led to improvement of the myoblast structures in mother rats and their offspring.

KEYWORDS: Barley, Cholesterol Diet, Gastrocnemius, Light And Transmission Electron Microscope ; Offspring, Oxidative Stress, Pregnant

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