Background: Obesity is a risk factor for many medical complications; medical research has shown that hemodynamic, morphological and functional abnormalities are correlated with the duration and severity of obesity.
Objective: Present study determined the influence of term of exposure to high-fat diet-induced obesity on myocardial collagen type I and III.
Methods: Thirty-day-old male Wistar rats were randomly distributed into two groups: a control (C) group fed a standard rat chow and an obese (Ob) group alternately fed one of four palatable high-fat diets. Each diet was changed daily, and the rats were maintained on their respective diets for 15 (C15 and Ob15) and 30 (C30 and Ob30) consecutive weeks. Obesity was determined by adiposity index.
Results: The Ob15 group was similar to the C15 group regarding the expression of myocardial collagen type I; however, expression in the Ob30 group was less than C30 group. The time of exposure to obesity was associated with a reduction in collagen type I in Ob30 when compared with Ob15. Obesity did not affect collagen type III expression.
Conclusion: This study showed that the time of exposure to obesity for 30 weeks induced by unsaturated high-fat diet caused a reduction in myocardial collagen type I expression in the obese rats. However, no effect was seen on myocardial collagen type III expression.