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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Environ Mol Mutagen. 2021 Feb 6;62(3):185–202. doi: 10.1002/em.22425

TABLE 2.

Fructose exposures in animal models

Model-system Dose Exposure duration Methods Key findings References
Reactive species formation
Male Wistar rats High-fat diet and 5% fructose in drinking water per day 4 months ROS in kidney measured DCFDA; MDA measured spectrophotometrically ROS and malondialdehyde expression were elevated in the kidneys Rosas-Villegas et al., 2017
Male C57BL/6 mice 10% fructose in drinking water per day 20 weeks Total ROS activity assay kit 80% increase in ROS production; increased mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide production Zhang et al., 2016
Male Sprague–Dawley rats 10% fructose in drinking water per day 8 weeks Total ROS measured by DCFDA Increased ROS, MDA, XO, iNOS, and hydrogen peroxide levels in rat livers Zhang et al., 2015
Male HTG rats, male Wistar rats, and male Lewis rats 10% fructose in drinking water per day 3 weeks Pentosidine measurement- fluorescence at 332ex/378em nm Increased post-translational pentosidine levels in rat aorta and skin samples for all three strains of rats Mikulikova et al., 2008
Male Wistar rats (mononuclear cells) 10% fructose in drinking water per day 12 weeks ROS measured using flow cytometry to quantify the production of *O2, H2O2, NO and *ONOO/*OH, with DHE, DCF, DAF-2 T in peripheral blood and bone-marrow mononuclear cells Elevated level of ROS generation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells; no ROS increase in bone marrow mononuclear cells Porto et al., 2015
Male Fischer rats 20% fructose in drinking water per day and high salt diet (8%) for last 10 weeks 20 weeks ROS production quantified using DCFDA; SOD activity measured by autooxidation of pyrogallol; cat activity was measured spectrophotometrically Salt-dependent hypertension and elevated oxidative stress; decrease in renal enzymatic SOD and catalase activity in the kidney Dornas et al., 2017
Male and female Sprague–Dawley rats 20% fructose water solution per day Dose received during gestation and lactation periods OxiSelect in vitro ROS/RNS assay kit 1.5-fold increase in hippocampal LPO which is associated with elevated ROS Yamada et al., 2019
Male Wistar rats 250 mL of 25% fructose drinking water per day with 40.6% fats 6 weeks ROS levels measured by DCFDA 8-time increase in lipid peroxidation levels in mitochondria for fructose groups and high fat and fructose groups; no increases in ROS for fructose-treated groups Garcia-Berumen et al., 2019
Male Sprague–Dawley rats 30 g of fructose per 100 g of chow (30% fructose) 8 weeks DNA/RNA oxidative damage ELISA assay 8-OHdG levels were increased indicating elevated levels of oxidative stress Cioffi et al., 2017
Male C57BL/6 mice 60% fructose diet per day 6, 10, and 20 weeks Superoxide production determined through measurement of NADPH activity Significant increase in superoxide production in mice during 6 weeks of intake; at 10 weeks, there was a 29% increase in superoxide production, and at 20 weeks, there was a 16% increase Mellor et al., 2010
Male Wistar rats Fructose content provides 60% of calories in diet per day 2 weeks Measured through insulin resistance Inhibited expression of catalase in the heart and liver; condition leads to a high vulnerability to elevated levels of oxidative stress in insulin resistance Cavarape et al., 2001
Male spontaneously hypertensive rats 60% fructose 3 weeks ROS by flow cytometry using the fluorescence dye DHE There were high levels of ROS accumulation and lipid peroxidation in rostral ventrolateral medulla; development of brain oxidative stress can lead to hypertension Wu et al. 2017
Male Wistar rats 60% fructose chow in diet per day 12, 16, 20, and 24 weeks MDA measured spectrophotometrically Increase in production of substances such as methylglyoxal, which leads to muscle oxidative stress; no significant increase in the levels of the peroxidation product malondialdehyde in the serum, left ventricular tissue, or in the cardiac level of the nitrooxidative marker 3-nitrotyrosine Szucs et al. 2019
Mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction
Male C57BL/6 mice 10% fructose in drinking water per day 20 weeks Oxygen consumption rates monitored by a Seahorse XF24 oxygen flux analyzer; complex II enzyme activity measured using microplate assay kit Cardiac hypertrophy, diastolic dysfunction, decreased complex II activity by 60%, and reduced state III and IV OCR; for complex I and II, rates of ATP synthesis decreased by 37% and 36% respectively Zhang et al., 2016
Male Sprague–Dawley rats 10% fructose in drinking water per day 6 weeks Respiratory measurements made using Oroboros system for permeabilized muscle fibers In the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle, there was a significant decrease in complex I respiration; respiratory activity for other complexes were similar; for the soleus muscle, OXPHOS capacity for complex II was much lower Warren et al., 2014
Male Wistar rats 250 mL of 25% fructose drinking water per day 6 weeks Mitochondrial respiration obtained by determining the oxygen consumption rate of isolated mitochondria using a Clark-type electrode coupled to a YSI 5300A biological oxygen monitor Mitochondrial respiratory rate in state 3 decreased in the fructose group by 1.6-fold; 1.8-fold increase in state 4 respiration; complex I activity decreased ~2.3-fold in mitochondria for the high fructose group Garcia-Berumen et al., 2019
Male Sprague–Dawley rats 30 g of fructose per 100 g of chow (30% fructose) 8 weeks mtDNA damage measured using qPCR; changes in mitochondrial biogenesis monitored through the expression of Pcg1α, Nrf1, and Tfam Increase in mtDNA damage in the liver of rats; 22% decrease in mtDNA fragments; mitochondrial copy number was reduced by approximately 56%; reduced mitochondrial biogenesis Cioffi et al., 2017
Male and female Sprague–Dawley rats 20% fructose water solution per day Dose received during gestation and lactation periods Mitochondria oxygen consumption rate- MitoXpress oxygen consumption assay; mtDNA damage assessed using qPCR Reduction mitochondrial OCR; no change in mtDNA amount Yamada et al., 2019
Transcriptional changes
Male Wistar rats High-fat diet and 5% fructose in drinking water per day 4 months Protein expression measured by immunoblotting Increased protein expression of inflammatory markers Tlr-4, Nf-κb; Tnfα/β, and Mcp1 Rosas-Villegas et al., 2017
Kupffer cells from male Sprague–Dawley rats 10% fructose in drinking water per day 8 weeks mRNA expression measured using qPCR Increase in Txnip, Nlrp3 levels in Kupffer cells, and aggravate oxidative stress in livers; in vitro fructose exposure did not change levels of Txnip, Nlrp3, and no ROS overproduction; increased co-localization of Nlrp3; Zhang et al., 2015
Male Sprague–Dawley rats 30 g of fructose per 100 g of chow (30% fructose) 8 weeks mRNA expression measured using qPCR; protein expression measured by immunoblotting Pgc1α, Nrf1, and Tfam reduced expression by 19%, 41%, and 43% respectively Cioffi et al., 2017
Male C57BL/6 mice 10% fructose in drinking water per day 20 weeks mRNA expression measured using qPCR; protein expression measured by immunoblotting Decreased CFTR expression and induced ROS and oxidative stress Zhang et al., 2016
Male Sprague–Dawley rats 10% fructose in drinking water per day 6 weeks Protein expression measured by immunoblotting Decline in Pgc-1α protein levels in both EDL and soleus muscles; increased Sirt3 protein levels in the soleus, and decline in the EDL; no changes in thioredoxin reductase-2 protein levels in the soleus, but there was a decrease in the EDL muscle Warren et al., 2014
Male Wistar rats 10% fructose in drinking water per day 12 weeks Annexin V-FITC apoptosis detection kit; cytokines measured in the plasma by flow cytometry using a Cytometric bead Array – Mouse inflammation kit Elevated rates of apoptosis; Il-6 and Il-12p70 were higher Porto et al., 2015
Male and female Wistar rats 10% fructose in drinking water per day 24 weeks mRNA expression measured using qPCR Increased expression of Irβ, Irs-1, Irs-2, Akt, Pi3k, eNOS, mTor, Ppary, Nrf2, and eNOS; induction of proinflammatory markers, iNOS, Tnfα, Il-1β, Il-18, MDA, and ALT, as well as anti-inflammatory factors Il-10, and Nrf2 in adipose tissues of male and female rats Pektas et al., 2016
Male and female Sprague–Dawley rats 20% fructose water solution per day Dose received during gestation and lactation periods mRNA expression measured using qPCR; protein expression measured by immunoblotting Decreased Ucp5 and Tfam; the amount of genomic Nadh dehydrogenase 1, 2, and 3 did not change; no alterations in mitochondrial complex protein expression Yamada et al., 2019
Male Wistar rats Fructose content provides 60% of calories in diet per day 2 weeks mRNA expression assessed by northern blot Decreased expression of Cat and Sod1 in the liver and Cat in the heart; reductions in catalase (cat) and cu-ZnSOD1 activity were detected in skeletal muscle and adipose tissues Cavarape et al., 2001
Male C57BL/6 mice 60% fructose diet per day 6, 10, and 20 weeks mRNA expression measured using qPCR No effect on thioredoxin-2 gene expression level; at 6 weeks of exposure, β-myosin gene expression remained unchanged; at 10 weeks, non-significant mRNA expression levels of β-myosin, and NADPH oxidase subunit, Nox2 by 16.8-fold; at 20 weeks, gene expression levels of β-myosin was lowered, and Nox2 was similar for the control and fructose-treated groups Mellor et al., 2010
Male Wistar rats 60% fructose chow in diet per day 24 weeks mRNA expression measured using qPCR; myosin 6 protein level determined by proteomics Myosin 6 protein level was increased after fructose intake; Elovl6 and Myh6 also increased; Creatine kinase, creatine kinase-MB, and lactate dehydrogenase levels were not significantly different; 45% decrease in cardiolipin Szucs et al. 2019
Spontaneously hypertensive rats 60% fructose 12 weeks Protein expression measured by immunoblotting NADPH oxidase subunit gp91phox and angiotensin II type I receptor levels increased in the RVLM neuron and there was a decrease in extracellular SOD expression Wu et al. 2017