Infrared spectrochemical findings on intermittent fasting-associated gross molecular modifications in rat myocardium

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are among the primary life-threatening conditions affecting human society. Intermittent fasting is shown to be functional in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, however, the information on fasting-associated modifications in myocardial biomolecules is limited. This study aimed to determine the impact of 18-h intermittent fasting administered for five weeks on 12 months-old rats using supervised linear discriminant analysis and support vector machine algorithms constructed on spectrochemical data obtained from myocardial tissues. These algorithms revealed gross biomolecular modifications, while quantitative analyses demonstrated higher amounts of saturated lipids (19%), triglycerides (11%), and lipids (56%), in addition to enhancement in membrane dynamics (18%). The concentrations of nucleic acids and glucose are increased by 52%, while the glycogen content is diminished by 61%. The protein carbonylation/oxidation is reduced by 38%, whereas a 35% increase in protein content was measured. Phosphorylated proteins have been calculated to be at higher concentrations in the 13-62% range. The study findings demonstrated significant molecular changes in the myocardium of rats subjected to intermittent fasting.

Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Infrared spectroscopy; Intermittent fasting; Linear Discriminant Analysis; Support Vector Machine.