High-Fat, High-Sugar Diet-Induced Subendothelial Matrix Stiffening is Mitigated by Exercise

In this study, mice on a high-fat, high-sugar diet were treated with aerobic exercise or returned to a normal diet. We measured bulk arterial stiffness through pulse wave velocity and subendothelial matrix stiffnessex vivo through atomic force microscopy. Our data indicate that while diet reversal mitigates high-fat, high-sugar diet-induced macro- and micro-scale stiffening, exercise only significantly decreases micro-scale stiffness and not macro-scale stiffness, during the time-scale studied. These data underscore the need for both healthy diet and exercise to maintain vascular health. These data also indicate that exercise may serve as a key lifestyle modification to partially reverse the deleterious impacts of high-fat, high-sugar diet consumption, even while macro-scale stiffness indicators do not change.
Source: Cardiovascular Engineering and Technology - Category: Cardiology Source Type: research