Renal inflammatory and oxidative and metabolic changes after 6 weeks of cafeteria diet in rats

Obesity is a disease in which inflammation is directly involved and can lead to impaired renal function. To evaluate the influence of short term exposure to cafeteria diet on kidney tissue inflammation and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the rat plasma. Male Wistar rats (10 weeks of age, weighing 350 g) were assigned to receive commercial chow diet (C; n = 8 animals/group, 5% of energy from fat) or cafeteria diet (CAF-D, n = 8 animals/group: 29% energy fat) and sucrose in drinking water (300 g/L) for 6 weeks. adiposity index at six weeks was higher in CAF-D group compared to C. The same behavior was observed for plasma levels of glucose, triglycerides, leptin, insulin and AGEs. The gene expression of IL-6 and TNF-α in renal tissue was higher in CAF-D group and no significant difference in adipose tissue. There was no increase of these cytokines in plasma and kidney or histologically. There was a significant decrease of adiponectin in the CAF-D group. The short exposure CAF-D reflects changes in metabolism, increased plasma levels of AGEs, which may reflect the increased expression of inflammatory cytokines in the kidney.