Biochemical and Ultrastructural Cardiac Changes Induced by High-Fat Diet in Female and Male Prepubertal Rabbits

Figure 9

Electron photomicrographs of ultrathin sections in the cardiac tissue of prepubertal male rabbits. Normal diet group (a, b) and high-fat diet group (c, d, e). Under the high-fat diet group, mitochondrial ultrastructure (M) showed evidence of morphological abnormalities with dense material deposits (e, bold arrow), pronounced variation in their size, disorganization of cristae which appear significantly deformed, and mitochondria duplication (bold arrows) (d, e). The junctional complexes (JC) are enlarged (c). There is a decrease of myofibrils (Mf) which appear degenerated with sarcomere disorganization (c, arrow), multiple lipid droplets (LD) (c, e). JC: junctional complex; M: mitochondria; Mf: myofibrils; N: nucleus; LD: lipid droplets.

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