Abstract
The present study aims to produce low cost sophorolipids, and to evaluate their potential hypocholesterolemic impact. Sophorolipids were produced by Candida bombicola grown on safflower oil cake, extracted by methanol followed by ethyl acetate with a yield of 24.4 and 48.3 g·100 g-1 mixed substrate, respectively. Their structure was confirmed by FTIR and 1H NMR and proven to be safe when subjected to an acute toxicity test. A biological experiment was done on 42 male albino rats classified into six groups for 4 weeks following an induction period for hypercholesterolemia of 8 weeks. The two extracts and their mixture were examined for their hypocholesterolemic effect compared to rosuvastatin. The results revealed a reduction in total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, atherogenic index, liver transaminases’ activity and malondialdehyde. They also revealed an elevation in high density lipoprotein cholesterol and antioxidant enzymes which was more efficient than rosuvastatin. Histopathological examination confirmed these results. In conclusion, the newly isolated sophorolipids are powerful hypocholesterolemic compounds which are even more efficient and safer than rosuvastatin.
Highlights
Atherosclerosis is the principal contributor to the pathogenesis of myocardial and cerebral infarctions
The current hypocholesterolemic drugs such as statins give good results for lowering cholesterol with well-known mechanisms (Rideout et al, 2010), the need for alternative drugs is pivotal due to some disadvantages of the current drugs among which is the lack of positive effect on high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (Kobayashi et al, 2008)
Extraction of the crude SLs was carried out using methanol as the first extraction solvent, which resulted in a yield of 24.4 g·100 g−1 mixed substrate, while the re-extraction by ethyl acetate from the remaining culture gave a higher yield of SLs (48.3 g·100 g−1 mixed substrate)
Summary
Atherosclerosis is the principal contributor to the pathogenesis of myocardial and cerebral infarctions. The etiology of atherosclerosis is multi-factorial; hypercholesterolemia is one of these factors (Jegadeesh et al, 2014). Most of the commonly used hypocholesterolemic drugs have undesirable side effects. Statins as a new generation of hypocholesterolemic drugs are widely used to lower cholesterol, preventing the risk of coronary heart disease. They work as mevalonate pathway inhibitors, blocking cholesterol synthesis. The most common side effect of statins is related to the depletion of the coenzyme Q10 which is used for energy production by body cells (Graveline, 2015). There has been an increased interest in creating natural products for the production of hypocholesterolemic drugs with lower adverse effects
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