Abstract Summary/Description
A high-fat diet increases oxidative stress and immune dysregulation in the gut, which negatively affects tight junction protein expression. Blueberries (BB) have antioxidant properties and research shows BB consumption strengthens the intestinal barrier. This study aims to determine the effects of BB supplementation on the intestinal health of mice fed a high-fat, high-sucrose, high-salt (HFHSS) diet. Four-week-old UM-HET3 male mice were fed a control diet (low-fat, low-sucrose, low-salt, LFLSS) alone or supplemented with BB for four weeks. Mice consuming LFLSS remained on a LFLSS diet or were switched to a HFHSS. Mice on LFLSS + BB were assigned to HFHSS + 5% BB for 12 weeks. Colons were excised and expression of pro-oxidant and antioxidant enzymes were examined via Western Blot. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s posthoc test. Protein expression glutathione peroxidase (GPx)-1 was significantly downregulated by HFHSS (p = 0.007), and BB was unable to attenuate this effect (p=0.3). Though not significant, the expression of GPx-3 was also down-regulated by HFHSS diet, which was prevented by BB supplementation (p = 0.01). Lastly, the expression of heme oxygenase (HO)-1 and NADPH oxidase (NOX)-1 were not different across groups. Results indicate that BB supplementation does not mitigate the detrimental effects of HFHSS on the expression of antioxidant markers in the gut. Further analyses are ongoing to examine its impact on intestinal inflammatory markers and tight junction proteins.
