Protective Antioxidant Effect of Argan Oil Compared with Olive, Colza and Cactus Seed Oils against Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Oxidative Stress in the Mouse Heart

Abstract

Injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) reproduces several features of Gram-negative sepsis in mice, among them an oxidative imbalance documented in liver and brain but rarely in cardiac tissue. We compared virgin argan oil (AO) from Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels with olive (OO), colza (CO) and cactus seed (CSO) oils for protection of the mouse heart against that challenge. The Swiss OF1 mouse model was given a diet in which 6% of the fats came from a single oil for 28 consecutive days. This diet was followed by injection of LPS extracted from Escherichia coli O111:B4 strain. Activities of enzymes super oxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) as well as malondialdehyde (MDA) were assessed in myocardial homogenates which were expressed in relation to total protein concentration (n = 5 for each group).. The heart responded unlike the organs described previously. LPS on its own left SOD and CAT activities and the GSH pool close to control values, and no macroscopic lesion was seen. Olive oil was the exception among the single-oil groups: SOD activity reached 95 ± 22 against 43 ± 14 U/mg protein in controls (p = 0.0012). Under LPS challenge, argan oil pretreatment raised cardiac GSH to about 2210 µmol/mg protein against 860 in the LPS group (p < 0.008), while the three other oils lowered it below both LPS and control levels. Differences in CAT activity and in MDA content did not reach significance (p > 0.99). Argan oil therefore preserves the reduced glutathione pool of the challenged heart, and all four oils limited lipid peroxidation, but the cardiac response to LPS is milder than the hepatic and cerebral responses reported so far.