Chronic L-arginine treatment improves metabolic, cardiovascular and liver complications in diet-induced obesity in rats

L-Arginine is an important dietary amino acid in both health and disease, especially of the cardiovascular system. This study has determined whether dietary supplementation with L-arginine attenuates cardiovascular, metabolic, pancreatic and liver changes in a rat model of the human metabolic syndrome. Male Wistar rats (8-9 weeks old) were divided into four groups. Two groups of rats were fed a corn starch-rich diet (C) whereas the other two groups were given a high carbohydrate, high fat diet (H) with 25% fructose in the drinking water, for 16 weeks. One group fed each diet was supplemented with 5% L-arginine in the food for the final 8 weeks of this protocol. The corn starch diet (C) contained similar to 68% carbohydrates mainly as polysaccharides, while the high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet contained similar to 68% carbohydrates mainly as fructose and sucrose together with 24% fat mainly as saturated and monounsaturated fats from beef tallow. The high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet-fed rats showed the symptoms of metabolic syndrome including obesity and hypertension with heart and liver damage. Supplementation with L-arginine attenuated impairment in left ventricular and liver structure and function, glucose tolerance, and decreased blood pressure, abdominal fat pads, inflammatory cell infiltration, pancreatic cell hypertrophy and oxidative stress. This study indicates that oral supplementation with L-arginine attenuated or normalised obesity-related changes in the heart, liver and pancreas by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress associated with high carbohydrate, high fat feeding in rats.