Experimental Study on Effect of Lipoic Acid on Oxidative Stress Levels in Obesity Rats Induced by High-fat Diet

Objective To explore the effect of lipoic acid(LA) on levels of oxidative stress in high-fat-diet-induced obesity in rats. Methods According to body weight,29 5～6-week-old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into basic diet group(n=8) and high-fat diet group(n=21).After 6 weeks,the rats in high-fat diet group were determined the fasting blood sugar level,and then they were divided into high-fat group and LA group according to the level of blood sugar.The rats in the two groups were intraperitoneally injected with normal saline or LA,respectively.After 4 weeks,the rats' body weight,visceral adipose mass and serum malondialdehyde(MDA),superoxide dismutase(SOD),total antioxidant capacity(T-AOC) and whole blood glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were determined. Results Compared with basic diet group,the serum MDA level and SOD activity in high-fat group were increased significantly,but serum T-AOC level decreased significantly,and the difference was statistically significant(P0.05).Compared with high-fat group,the rats' body weight and visceral adipose composition in LA group were decreased significantly,but serum T-AOC level increased significantly,and the difference was statistically significant(P0.05).There was no statistically significant difference in GSH-Px among the rats in three groups(P0.05). Conclusions LA can significantly reduce body weight and visceral adipose mass of fat-induced-obesity rats and increase their anti-oxidantive ability.