Effect of dietary supplementation with olive and sunflower oils on lipid profile and liver histology in rats fed high cholesterol diet

Abstract

To compare the effects of high-monounsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) against the metabolic disorders elicited by a high-cholesterol diet (HC) in rats. Using invivo dietary manipulation, rats were fed with different diets containing 4% soybean oil (cholesterol free diet) and 1% HC containing 12% olive oil (HC+OO) enriched with MUFA and 12% sunflower oil (HC+SO) enriched with PUFA for 60d. Serum lipid levels and hepatic steatosis were evaluated after the treatment period. Comparatively, rats treated with HC+OO diet experienced a decrease in the serum LDL-C, VLDL-C and CT levels compared to those fed with HC+SO diet (P<0.05). Otherwise, HC+OO provoked significant microvesicular steatosis situated in the hepatic acinar zone 1. HC+OO diet has high absorption velocity in the acinar zone 1 of liver compared to the HC+SO diet. Based on this, the reduction of the LDL-C, VLDL-C and CT serum levels in the animals treated with HC+OO diet may have been caused by the delay in the FA release to the blood.