Potato protein hydrolysate attenuates high fat diet-induced cardiac apoptosis through SIRT1/ PGC-1á/Akt signalling

• Lipolysis stimulating peptide-APPH attenuated high fat diet induced cardiac damage in hamster models.
• APPH administration reduced the HFD induced apoptosis and enhanced survival mechanisms.
• APPH administration protects cardiac function from HFD induced deterioration.

High-fat-diet (HFD)-induced obesity is a major contributor to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In this research 6 week old male hamsters (n = 10) fed with HFD showed significant deterioration in heart function as determined from their cardiac ejection fraction percentage (EF%) and fraction shortening percentage (FS%). The number of apoptosis positive cells and the expression of protein markers of apoptosis drastically increased in the HFD-fed hamsters. However, the effects were significantly reduced following the administration of a lipolysis-stimulating peptide-APPH which was derived from the Alcalase-hydrolysis of potato protein. Fifty days of APPH-treatment was effective in all the concentrations (15, 45 and 75 mg/kg/day) tested. The EF% and FS% measurements in the APPH treatment groups were comparable with that of the control group hamsters. The molecular events associated with the ameliorative effect of APPH were found to be potentially mediated by SIRT1 pathway indicating a restoration from the metabolic disorders induced by HFD.