The role of hypercholesterolemic diet and vitamin E on Nrf2 pathway, endoplasmic reticulum stress and proteasome activity

Hypercholesterolemia is the major risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis and vitamin E is suggested to have a preventive role in this process (1), although the mechanism of action still remains unclear.The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) may in?uence atherosclerosis by affecting disease-relevant cellular processes such as apoptosis, proliferation, and differentiation, or by affecting cellular stress responses and/or adaptive phenomena, such as ER stress, in?ammation, and redox homeostasis (2). NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor that controls the expression of phase II detoxi?cation and antioxidant genes. Nrf2 signaling has additionally been shown to upregulate the expression of the proteasome catalytic subunits (3). In the present study, we investigated the role of Nrf2 pathway on oxidative and ER stress conditions induced by cholesterol diet and the effects of vitamin E on related signaling pathways in in vivo model of atherosclerosis. All experimental procedures were approved by the Marmara University Ethics Committee. Twenty-one male albino rabbits (23 months old) were assigned randomly to four groups fed for 8 weeks: (i) vitamin E deficient diet, (ii) vitamin E deficient diet containing 2% cholesterol, and (iii) vitamin E deficient diet containing 2% cholesterol with daily intramuscular injections of vitamin E (50mg/kg), (iv) vitamin E deficient diet with daily intramuscular injections of vitamin E (50mg/kg). In order to elucidate in vivo role of oxidative stress and ER stress in cardiovascular system of hypercholesterolemic rabbits, we investigated serum levels of cholesterol, MDA and vitamin E and Nrf2, GST-1, GRP78, GRP94, PERK, IRE1 protein levels and the proteasomal activity in aortic tissues will be discussed.