A Hypomethylating Ketogenic Diet in Apolipoprotein E-Deficient Mice: A Pilot Study on Vascular Effects and Specific Epigenetic Changes

作者：Rita Castro, Courtney Whalen, Sean Gullette, Floyd J. Mattie, Cristina Florindo, Sandra G. Heil, Neil K. Huang, Thomas Neuberger, A. Catharine Ross · 发表于：Nutrients · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.3390/nu13103576 · 被引用次数：22 · 研究领域：Diet and metabolism studies、Epigenetics and DNA Methylation、Folate and B Vitamins Research

Hyperhomocysteneinemia (HHcy) is common in the general population and is a risk factor for atherosclerosis by mechanisms that are still elusive. A hypomethylated status of epigenetically relevant targets may contribute to the vascular toxicity associated with HHcy. Ketogenic diets (KD) are diets with a severely restricted amount of carbohydrates that are being widely used, mainly for weight-loss purposes. However, studies associating nutritional ketosis and HHcy are lacking. This pilot study investigates the effects of mild HHcy induced by nutritional manipulation of the methionine metabolism in the absence of dietary carbohydrates on disease progression and specific epigenetic changes in the apolipoprotein-E deficient (apoE–/–) mouse model. ApoE–/– mice were either fed a KD, a diet with the same macronutrient composition but low in methyl donors (low methyl KD, LMKD), or control diet. After 4, 8 or 12 weeks plasma was collected for the quantification of: (1) nutritional ketosis, (i.e., the ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate using a colorimetric assay); (2) homocysteine by HPLC; (3) the methylating potential S-adenosylmethionine to S-adenosylhomocysteine ratio (AdoHcy/AdoMet) by LC-MS/MS; and (4) the inflammatory cytokine monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1) by ELISA. After 12 weeks, aortas were collected to assess: (1) the vascular AdoHcy/AdoMet ratio; (2) the volume of atherosclerotic lesions by high-field magnetic resonance imaging (14T-MRI); and (3) the content of spec...