N-Acetylneuraminic acid attenuates hypercoagulation on high fat diet-induced hyperlipidemic rats

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: N-Acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac), a type of sialic acid, has close links with cholesterol metabolism and is often used as a biomarker in evaluating the risk of cardiovascular diseases. However, most studies on the health implications of Neu5Ac have focused on its effects on the nervous system, while its effects on cardiovascular risk factors have largely been unreported. Thus, the effects of Neu5Ac on coagulation status in high fat diet (HFD)-induced hyperlipidemic rats were evaluated in this study. METHODS: Sprague Dawley male rats were divided into five different groups and fed with HFD alone, HFD low-dose Neu5Ac, HFD high-dose Neu5Ac, HFD simvastatin (10 mg/kg day), and normal pellet alone. Food was given ad libitum while body weight of rats was measured weekly. After 12 weeks of intervention, rats were sacrificed and serum and tissue samples were collected for biochemistry and gene expression analysis, respectively. RESULTS: The results showed that Neu5Ac could improve lipid metabolism and hyperlipidemia-associated coagulation. Neu5Ac exerted comparable or sometimes better physiological effects than simvastatin, at biochemical and gene expression levels. CONCLUSIONS: The data indicated that Neu5Ac prevented HFD-induced hyperlipidemia and associated hypercoagulation in rats through regulation of lipid-related and coagulation-related genes and, by extension, induced metabolite and protein changes. The implications of the present findings are that Neu5Ac may be used to prevent coagulation-related cardiovascular events in hyperlipidemic conditions. These findings are worth studying further.