Konjac glucomannan defends against high-fat diet-induced atherosclerosis in rabbits by promoting the PI3K/Akt pathway

Junting Weng; Min Chen; Bingbing Shi; Danjuan Liu; Shuoyun Weng; Rongjie Guo

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13682

Konjac glucomannan defends against high-fat diet-induced atherosclerosis in rabbits by promoting the PI3K/Akt pathway

Heliyon. 2023 Feb 13;9(2):e13682. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13682. eCollection 2023 Feb.

Authors

Junting Weng¹, Min Chen¹, Bingbing Shi¹, Danjuan Liu¹, Shuoyun Weng², Rongjie Guo¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Hospital of Putian University, Putian 351100, China.
² School of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325035, China.

Abstract

Atherosclerosis (AS) is the main cause of cardiovascular disease and cerebral infarction, which seriously endanger human health. This study aimed to investigate konjac glucomannan (KGM) defends against high-fat diet-induced AS in rabbits by promoting the PI3K/Akt pathway. KGM administration reduced the degree of AS indicated by reducing the plaques and foam cells, the tunica intima thickness, and the tunica intima/tunica media thickness ratio in the aorta, and enlarging the lumen of the aorta. In addition, KGM administration regulated blood lipids, ameliorated inflammation indicated by reducing the levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-6, CRP, and VCAM-1, and attenuated endothelial injury, simultaneously mitigated oxidative stress indicated by decreasing MPO activity and the concentrations of MDA and increasing the GSH-Px and SOD concentrations. Moreover, KGM promotes the phosphorylation of PI3K and AKT. However, these effects of KGM on rabbits with high-fat diet-induced AS were blocked by LY294002. In conclusion, KGM defends against high-fat diet-induced AS in rabbits by promoting the PI3K/Akt pathway.

Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Endothelial function; Konjac glucomannan; Oxidative stress; PI3K/Akt pathway; VCAM-1.