Effects of overfeeding and high-fat diet on cardiosomatic parameters and cardiac structures in young and adult zebrafish

Rafael Vargas, Isabel Cristina Vásquez

Obesity is a complex global health problem because it is a risk factor for multiple chronic pathologies such as cardiovascular, endocrine, metabolic, and neoplastic diseases. It is considered a multicausal disease, and one of the determining factors is nutritional imbalances, which include high-fat diets. In this paper, we use the zebrafish model to assess the impact of overfeeding and a high-fat diet in somatic and cardiac parameters in young and adult zebrafish. The results show that fish receiving a high-fat diet showed greater weight gain compared to fish receiving a standard fat diet. Additionally, changes in the heart, including increases in size, a change in the triangular shape of the ventricle to a globular shape, and an increase in the thickness of the trabeculae of the spongy myocardium were observed. These changes could be indicators of cardiovascular overload. The results show that there is a direct relationship between the intake of a high-fat diet and obesity, which in turn can induce cardiac changes, supporting the hypothesis of the relationship between high-fat diets and cardiovascular risk factors. Given the genetic similarity between zebrafish and humans, these results could be extrapolated to human beings, and the findings similarly highlight the importance of incorporating a balanced diet from the early life stages to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.