Cardiac oxidative stress and inflammation are similar in SAMP8 and SAMR1 mice and unaltered by curcumin and Ginkgo biloba extract intake.

Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress increase with advancing age and appear to be involved in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. There is a need for animal models that reflect the increases in pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative damage observed during aging in humans. We therefore aimed to investigate the suitability of the fast-aging senescence-accelerated mouse-prone 8 (SAMP8) strain and its normally aging control senescence-accelerated mouse-resistant 1 (SAMR1) to study the age-dependent changes in cytokines, oxidative damage and antioxidants in the heart. To this end, 2-months-old male SAMR1 and SAMP8 mice were fed a Western type diet (control groups) for 5 months. Two groups of SAMP8 mice were simultaneously fed identical diets fortified with 0.5 g curcumin or 1.0 g Ginkgo biloba extract EGb 761(®) per kg diet. Heart tissue homogenates were analysed for protein carbonyls, glutathione, glutathione disulfide, methionine, cysteine and uric acid as well as the cytokines tumor-necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1. Neither the strain (SAMR1 or SAMP8) nor antioxidant intake (curcumin or EGb 761(®)) affected the concentrations of the measured parameters. In conclusion, our data do not support the suitability of the SAMP8 and SAMR1 strains as a model to study age-related changes in pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress parameters in the heart.