Abstract

Obesity can lead to an elevated risk of asthma, however, the associated mechanism between them remains largely unclear. The present work analyzed how diet-induced obesity affects tumor necrosis factor alpha expression and its protein expression in the lungs of Bama mini pigs following ovalbumin treatment. Altogether 20 mini pigs were randomized into 4 groups (5 pigs in each group) namely, control with normal diet, ovalbumin-sensitization with normal diet, control with high-fat diet and ovalbumin-sensitization with high-fat diet. Mini pigs were raised using high-fat diet or standard pellets for 23 mo; in the final month, they were sensitized and challenged with saline or ovalbumin. After these treatments, lungs were collected to detect tumor necrosis factor-alpha messenger ribonucleic acid through real-time polymerase chain reaction assay. Body weight, lipid profiles and obesity indices were elevated in diet-induced obesity groups. Additionally, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and messenger ribonucleic acid expression significantly elevated in ovalbuminsensitization groups compared with the remaining groups (p<0.001). Besides, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and messenger ribonucleic acid expression of sensitization+high-fat diet group evidently elevated relative to remaining groups (p<0.001). According to our findings, high-fat diet upregulated tumor necrosis factoralpha, messenger ribonucleic acid and tumor necrosis factor-alpha protein expression within the experimental asthma model. Moreover, obesity-related asthma probably results in local pro-inflammatory factor activation and release.