Elucidation of the molecular mechanism of the metabolic syndrome induced by long-term dietary nitrite and nitrate deficiency and development of the new treatment

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H06519
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Eating habits
• Research Institution: University of the Ryukyus
• Principal Investigator: Kina Mika 琉球大学, 医学部附属病院, 医員 (80578914)
• Research Collaborator: SAKANASHI Mayuko ; KANAME Tadashi ; MATSUZAKI Toshihiro ; NOGUCHI Katsuhiko ; NAKASONE Junko ; TAIRA Yuji ; ARASAKI Akira ; TSUTSUI Masato
• Project Period (FY): 2015-08-28 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: メタボリックシンドローム / nitrate

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we tested our hypothesis that long-term dietary nitrite/nitrate deficiency would induce the metabolic syndrome in mice. To this end, we prepared a low-nitrite/nitrate diet (LND), in which the contents of L-arginine, fat, carbohydrates, protein and energy were identical with a regular diet(RD).
Three months of the LND significantly elicited visceral adiposity, dyslipidaemia and glucose intolerance in comparison with the RD. Eighteen months of the LND significantly provoked hypertension, insulin resistance and impaired endothelium-dependent relaxations to acetylcholine, while 22 months of the LND significantly led to death mainly due to cardiovascular disease, including acute myocardial infarction.
These results provide the first evidence that long-term dietary nitrite/nitrate deficiency gives rise to the metabolic syndrome in mice, indicating a novel pathogenetic role of the exogenous NO production system in the metabolic syndrome and its vascular complications.

Free Research Field

歯科口腔外科