Effects of Dietary Inclusions of Simple Sugars (Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose) on the Lipid Profile in the Spleen of Wistar Strain Albino Rats

Excessive consumption of dietary simple sugars is often associated with metabolic dysregulation of lipids and theprogression of related disorders. Although hepatic and serum lipid alterations associated with high sugar intake havebeen widely studied, limited information exists regarding lipid accumulation in extrahepatic immune-associatedtissues such as the spleen. The effects of dietary simple sugars, such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose, on theparameters of the splenic lipid profile in Wistar strain albino rats were examined in this research. One hundred healthymale Wistar rats (90–110 g) that were bought as a few-week-old neonates were divided into four main groups atrandom, which included control, glucose, fructose, and sucrose-treated groups. Each treatment group was furtherdivided into three groups based on body weight: low (1 g/kg b.w.), medium (2 g/kg b.w.), and high-dose (4 g/kg b.w.).Sugars were constituted in distilled water and administered orally once daily every morning before food for ten weeks.Standard enzymatic assays were used to quantitatively measure splenic lipid parameters including total cholesterol(TC), triacylglycerol (TAG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C). Results showed that all sugar-treated groups' splenic TC, TAG, and LDL-C concentrations wereconsiderably higher (p < 0.05) than those of the control group, whereas HDL-C levels were significantly lower.Fructose administration consistently produced the most pronounced alterations across all dosage categories. Thesefindings demonstrate that chronic intake of dietary simple sugars can alter splenic lipid homeostasis, with fructoseexhibiting the greatest dyslipidemic effect. The study suggests that excessive fructose consumption may contribute tometabolic disturbances involving altered lipid handling in peripheral tissues.