The effect of food deprivation, social status and inequality on myocardial cell damage in male rabbits

Social inequality and deprivation is strongly related to basic health status in different societies. Individuals with lower socioeconomic status (SES) experience higher rate of mortality and lower level of life expectancy. Although health status is affected by poverty, but the precise pathways that link socioeconomic status and health remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to produce a model of food deprivation and inequality and unstable social status to evaluate the histopathological outcomes in myocardial cells. Fifty four rabbits were randomly assigned into six groups. The effect of free access to diet and social situation, with and without “deprivation” and “changed place or room-mate” was evaluated. Rabbit’s hearts were removed for histopathologic evaluation. For statistical analysis, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used. Relative food deprivation with unstable social status led to accumulation of lipofusion pigments in the myocardial cells of rabbits (p<0.005; compared with control group). This was significant even when unstable social status was inducted in absence of food deprivation (p<0.05). Unstable social status when combined with food deprivation induced more lipofusion compared with food deprivation alone (p<0.05). Electron microscope study provided reliable evidence on lipofusion accumulation during the experiment. Our findings demonstrated a relation between inequality in food intake and social status instability with formation and accumulation of lipofusion pigments (representative of oxidative stress and aging phenomenon) in the myocardial cells mostly in rabbits’ left ventricles.