Perinatal consumption of flaxseed oil and flaxseed flour has beneficial effects on cardiac fibrosis of male offspring from rat dams with experimental diabetes

• Flaxseed effects on cardiac remodeling in male offspring of diabetic rats were investigated.
• Maternal intake of flaxseed oil reduced blood pressure, caused by maternal hyperglycemia.
• Maternal use of flaxseed flour protected the stress of high blood pressure in left ventricle wall.
• A lower collagen infiltration into left ventricle was found in flaxseed groups.
• Programming with flaxseed decreased cardiac remodeling in offspring adulthood.

Maternal diabetes during critical periods of development can affect the health of adult offspring. Nevertheless, studies suggest that the presence of functional foods, such as flaxseed, can reverse the effects of metabolic programming. This study evaluated the effect of maternal consumption of flaxseed flour and a flaxseed oil based diets in left ventricular histomorphometry and in blood pressure in adult male offspring of diabetic rats. Rats (n = 24) were induced into diabetes with a high-fat diet (60% lipid) and streptozotocin (35 mg·kg− 1). After diabetes confirmation (glucose > 300 mg/dL), rats were sent to mating, and afterward pregnancy confirmed, they were allocated into four groups: control group (CG), high fat group (HG), flaxseed oil group (FOG) and flaxseed flour group (FFG). At weaning, six males of each group were separated and fed with a commercial diet chow until they reached 100 days of life, moment in which they were euthanized. The systolic blood pressure, the thickness of the left ventricular wall and collagen volume density were analyzed. Exposure to a hyperglycemic environment led to an increased systolic blood pressure, nevertheless FOG showed a significant reduction when compared to HG (p < 0.001). The left ventricular wall thickness was significantly lower in FFG (p = 0.030) and a minor amount of collagen in the left ventricle was found in FOG and FFG (p < 0.001). Those results suggest that a diet with flaxseed flour and flaxseed oil avoids the cardiac remodeling of offspring from diabetic dams.

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