Estudios científicos
Neither polyphenol-rich red wine nor fenofibrate affects the onset of type-1 diabetes mellitus in the BB rat
Abstract:
Serum levels of the pro-inflammatory apolipoprotein CIII (apoCIII) are increased in type-1 diabetic (T1D) patients and when β-cells are exposed to apoCIII they undergo apoptosis, which can be prevented by an antibody against apoCIII. We have previously investigated the BB rat, an animal model that develops a human-like T1D at the age of around 60 days, and found that apoCIII was also increased in sera from pre-diabetic rats and this promoted β-cell death. Lowering apoCIII with an oligonucleotide antisense during a phase of the pre-diabetic period prolonged the time to onset of T1D. In order to find other ways to lower apoCIII we in this study tested non-alcoholic red wine with medium and high concentrations of polyphenols and the lipid-lowering drug, fenofibrate, both reported to decrease the expression of apoCIII by activating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors. Pre-diabetic BB-rats were treated orally for one month prior to the expected onset of diabetes with the two different wines or fenofibrate. None of the treatments prevented or prolonged the time to onset of diabetes and the expression of apoCIII was unaffected in this animal model for T1D. However, it must be emphasized that this does not exclude that other species can show a response to these substances.
Comentarios divulgativos:
Los niveles en sangre de la apolipoproteína CIII están incrementados entre los pacientes con diabetes tipo 1 y cuándo las β células del páncreas están expuestas a esta proteína se inicia un proceso de muerte celular, que a su vez puede ser frenado por un anticuerpo específico. En ratas de experimentación BB reducir los niveles de esta proteína durante la fase de pre-diabetes retrasa su desarrollo.
En este estudio los investigadores tratan a ratas BB con dos variedades de vino tinto desalcoholizado, uno con alto contenido en polifenoles y otro con un contenido medio, pues estos compuestos se relacionan con una reducción de los niveles de apolipoproteína CIII.
Sin embargo, ninguno de los tratamientos pudo cambiar los niveles de apolipoproteína CIII ni prevenir o retrasar el desarrollo de la diabetes tipo 1 en los animales. Por lo que es necesario seguir estudiando al respecto, por ejemplo empleando otros modelos animales.
