Artificial light pollution and obesity as a risk factors of malignant cardiac arrhythmias-antiarrhythmogenic effect of omacor

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Light pollution disrupts circadian rhythms and increases the development of obesity, but their connection to cardiovascular disease, in particular to malignant arrhythmias, is not well known. Herein, we investigated if female rats exposed to continuous light and high-sucrose diet had altered myocardial gene transcripts and/or protein expression which affects arrhythmogenesis. We then assessed if Omacor® supplementation benefitted affected rats. In a first experiment, adult female spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and normotensive Wistar rats (WR) were housed under standard 12 h/12 h light/dark cycles or exposed to 6-weeks continuous 300 lux light for 24 h. In a second experiment, adult female WR rats received sucrose diet (30% sucrose solution) continuously (24 h) performed for 8 weeks. Half the rats from both experiments were throughout the experiment treated with 200 mg/100g b.w. Omacor®. Continuous light resulted in higher rat vulnerability to malignant ventricular fibrillation (VF). This was linked with myocardial connexin-43 (Cx43) down-regulation and deteriorated intercellular electrical coupling, due in part to increased pro-inflammatory NF-κB and iNOS transcripts and decreased sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ ATPase transcripts. Omacor® treatment increased the electrical threshold to induce the VF linked with amelioration of myocardial Cx43 mRNA and Cx43 protein levels and the suppression of NF-κB and iNOS. 8 weeks lasting intake of 30% sucrose solution downregulated Cx43 and PKCε signaling along with an upregulation of myocardial PKCδ and miR-30a rendering the heart prone to ventricular arrhythmias. There was a clear benefit of Omacor® supplementation due to their antiarrhythmic effects associated with the attenuation of myocardial Cx43, PKC, and miR-30a abnormalities. This indicates that rat exposure to continuous light and high-sucrose result in deleterious cardiac alterations jeopardizing intercellular Cx43 channel-mediated electrical communication, thereby increasing the risk of malignant arrhythmias. The adverse effects were attenuated by treatment with Omacor®, thus supporting its potential benefit and the relevance of monitoring omega-3 index in human populations at risk.