Research Article
High-Fat Diet Induces Oxidative Stress and MPK2 and
HSP83 Gene Expression in Drosophila melanogaster
Mariane Trindade de Paula,
1
Márcia Rósula Poetini Silva,
1
Stífani Machado Araujo,
1
Vandreza Cardoso Bortolotto,
1
Luana Barreto Meichtry,
1
Ana Paula Pegoraro Zemolin,
2
Gabriel L. Wallau,
3
Cristiano Ricardo Jesse,
1
Jeferson Luís Franco,
3
Thaís Posser,
3
and Marina Prigol
1
1
Laborat´ orio de Avaliac ¸˜ oes Farmacol´ ogicas e Toxicol´ ogicas Aplicadas ` as Mol´ eculas Bioativas,
Universidade Federal do Pampa (Unipampa), Campus Itaqui, 97650-000 Itaqui, RS, Brazil
2
Programa de P´ os Graduac ¸˜ ao em Ciˆ encias Biol´ ogicas: Bioqu´ ımica Toxicol´ ogica, Departamento de Qu´ ımica,
Centro de Ciˆ encias Naturais e Exatas, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, 97105-900 Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
3
Centro Interdisciplinar de Pesquisa em Biotecnologia (CIP/BIOTEC), Universidade Federal do Pampa,
Campus S˜ ao Gabriel, 97300 000 S˜ ao Gabriel, RS, Brazil
Correspondence should be addressed to Marina Prigol; marinaprigol@gmail.com
Received 14 May 2016; Revised 26 June 2016; Accepted 30 June 2016
Academic Editor: Silvana Hrelia
Copyright © 2016 Mariane Trindade de Paula et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Te consumption of a high-fat diet (HFD) causes alteration in normal metabolism afecting lifespan of fies; however molecular
mechanism associated with this damage in fies is not well known. Tis study evaluates the efects of ingestion of a diet supplemented
with 10% and 20% of coconut oil, which is rich in saturated fatty acids, on oxidative stress and cells stress signaling pathways. Afer
exposure to the diet for seven days, cellular and mitochondrial viability, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes SOD and CAT
activity, and mRNA expression of antioxidant enzymes HSP83 and MPK2 were analyzed. To confrm the damage efect of diet
on fies, survival and lifespan were investigated. Te results revealed that the HFD augmented the rate of lipid peroxidation and
SOD and CAT activity and induced a higher expression of HSP83 and MPK2 mRNA. In parallel, levels of enzymes involved in
lipid metabolism (ACSL1 and ACeCS1) were increased. Our data demonstrate that association among metabolic changes, oxidative
stress, and protein signalization might be involved in shortening the lifespan of fies fed with a HFD.
1. Introduction
Obesity is a chronic multifactorial disease, result of positive
energy balance, where food intake is greater than energy
expenditure. Tis overweight predisposes the organism to a
series of diseases such as cardiovascular problems, diabetes,
and sleep apnea [1, 2]. Given that, excessive food intake is
ofen directly linked to the consumption of foods rich in fat
and the increase in the amount of fatty acids in the diet causes
an imbalance in the metabolism [3].
A high-fat diet (HFD) causes damage at the cellular and
molecular levels, and it triggers an oxidative stress process.
Studies have demonstrated that this oxidative stress process
generates diferent responses such as the activation of signal-
ing pathways implicated in protecting cells against oxidative
damage, such as heat shock proteins (HSP) and mitogen-
activated protein kinase (MAPK) [3], peroxidation of lipids
and modifcation of proteins [4, 5], and insulin resistance
[6, 7]. Moreover, a HFD promotes an increased supply of
triglycerides and fatty acids and consequently it results in an
increase of fatty acids oxidation in order to produce energy.
Terefore, the study of biochemical mechanisms involved
in the cellular responses to changes in the diet requires close
attention to several metabolic pathways, given the complexity
of the organism, since in cellular signaling pathways the
interaction between genes and protein expression changes
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity
Volume 2016, Article ID 4018157, 12 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/4018157