Effect of alpha linolenic acid on membrane fluidity and respiration of liver mitochondria in normoglycemic and diabetic Wistar rats.

The omega 3 fatty acids (ω3FA) have been recommended for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and its complications, but there are studies questioning those beneficial effects. In this research, we supplemented the short-chain ω3FA, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), to a model of rats with T2DM and normoglycemic controls, for 5 months. We were mainly interested in studying the effects of diabetes and ALA on the physicochemical properties of mitochondrial membranes and the consequences on mitochondrial respiration.

Liver mitochondrial membrane fluidity at early development of diabetes and its correlation with the respiration.

The biological membranes are important in cell function but, during development of diseases such as diabetes, they are impaired. Consequently, membrane-associated biological processes are impaired as well. The mitochondria are important organelles where oxidative phosphorylation takes place, a process closely related with the membranes.

Dietary avocado oil supplementation attenuates the alterations induced by type I diabetes and oxidative stress in electron transfer at the complex II-complex III segment of the electron transport chain in rat kidney mitochondria.

Impaired complex III activity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in mitochondria have been identified as key events leading to renal damage during diabetes. Due to its high content of oleic acid and antioxidants, we aimed to test whether avocado oil may attenuate the alterations in electron transfer at complex III induced by diabetes by a mechanism related with increased resistance to lipid peroxidation. 90 days of avocado oil administration prevented the impairment in succinate-cytochrome c oxidoreductase activity caused by streptozotocin-induced diabetes in kidney mitochondria.

Analysis of the membrane fluidity of erythrocyte ghosts in diabetic, spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Diabetes and hypertension are closely related diseases associated with changes in membrane fluidity. Here, we measured the membrane fluidity of erythrocyte ghosts from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), with or without streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes, at the ages of 1, 3 and 6 months, by introducing the use of the intramolecular excimer forming dipyrenylpropane (DPyP) in this model. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was induced in 48-h-old, newborn male SHR by intraperitoneal injection of STZ.