Palm Oil Fractions Research Articles

Inter-esterified blends of Palm kernel oil, Palm oil, Palm oil Fractions and their derivatives as low Trans and low-cost fats as potential cocoa butter substitutes

Cocoa Butter Substitutes (CBS) were produced from Chemical Inter-esterification (CIE) of Fully Hydrogenated Palm Oil (FHPO), Fully hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil (FHPKO), Palm Kernel Oil (PKO), Stearin fraction of Palm Oil (PPO), Olein fraction of Palm Oil (PO) blends in various quantitative proportions and Inter-esterified to form Inter-esterified Fats (IEF). The CIE reactions were carried outat 110○C for 1 hour using Sodium methoxide at 0.2% as a catalystwith a mixing speed of 200 rpm. The physical and chemical properties, melting profile, Solid Fat Content (SFC) were analyzed andcompared with commercially marketed cocoa butter. CIE substantially altered the fatty acid distribution in the triglyceride profileof the fat blends, culminating in a significant change in the melting profile of Inter-esterified Fats (IEF) as compared to their Physical Blends (PB). CBS obtained from CIE of blends of pure Lauric Oils and their fully hydrogenated products are found to be the closest to Cocoa butter in terms of melting profile followed by HPKO: PKO (50:50) and HPKO: PKO (60:40) showing N35 (Solid fat content at 35C of almost 0%) making them most suitable alternative for Cocoa Butter. While Lauric and Non Lauric oil blends such as FHPKO: FHPO (20:80), FHPO: FHPKO (30:70), and 40:60 (PPO: FHPKO) indicated a high potential option as Low trans-CBS in Confectionery Industry and Frozen Dessert Fat as they exhibited similar SFC curves and melting profile to the commercial Cocoa Butter (CB).

Optimization of Esterification in the Synthesis of Surfactants Feedstock from Polar Lipid Fraction of Crude Palm Oil

Optimization of Esterification in the Synthesis of Surfactants Feedstock from Polar Lipid Fraction of Crude Palm Oil

Synthesis of lipids with sn-2 palmitic acid and sn-1,3 oleic acid from hard palm stearin and oleic acid

Human milk fat substitute (HMFS) is a fat that contains 1,3-dioleoyl-2-palmitoyl-glycerol (OPO) as the main triacylglycerol. Hard palm stearin (HPS) is a palm oil fraction containing high palmitic acid (PA), which can be used as a raw material in OPO synthesis. The challenge in OPO synthesis using HPS is to maintain sn-2 PA and increase sn-1,3 oleic acid (OA). This research was conducted to synthesize OPO through enzymatic acidolysis of the HPS-solid fraction and OA (1:6, mole ratio) using Lipozyme TL IM 10% of the substrate weight at 60 °C for 2 – 24 h. The results showed that acidolysis caused increased partial acylglycerol, decreased TAG, and decreased sn-2 PA while increased sn-2 OA and sn-1,3 OA. The presence of acyl migration caused the incorporation of OA using Lipozyme TL IM at the sn-1,3 positions after 2 h was not significantly different. The product obtained at 2 h contained TAG with 74% sn-2 PA and 17% sn-2 OA, 78% sn-1,3 PA, and 11% sn-1,3 OA.

The Analysis of Competition for Indonesian Palm Oil Derivative Products in The Italian Market

Indonesia is the world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil that has been recognized by foreign countries. Italy is the largest importer of Solid Palm Oil Fraction (SPOF) in the European Union. This article examines the analysis of SPOF Indonesia's competition in the Italian market. The method used is AIDS with a SUR approach that iterates through the application of STATA. The secondary data used is a time series on import value and quantities from 2004 to 2021 by Italy. The results showed that the price elasticity and expenditure of Indonesian SPOF imports were more elastic than Malaysia and the Netherlands. SPOF Indonesia is a luxury good but the price is lower. The elasticity of own price (Hicksian), the Netherlands is more elastic, while Indonesia is Marshallian. Cross price elasticity (Hicksian and Marshallian), the relationship between Indonesia-Malaysia compete by means of substitution. Meanwhile, the Netherlands-Indonesia and the Netherlands-Malaysia complement each other. Therefore, the Indonesian must add quality classes and added value to SPOF products in accordance with the quality of Malaysian and Netherlands products to increase consumer attractiveness. As a result, there will be bilateral cooperation between the two main producing countries of the SPOF in the Italian market to prevent a trade war. Keywords: AIDS, competition, elasticity demand, solid palm oil fraction

Use of High Oleic Palm Oils in Fluid Shortenings and Effect on Physical Properties of Cookies

Quality characteristics of bakery products rely partially on the amount and type of fats in their formulation. This study focused on producing emulsified shortenings with high oleic palm oil fractions to be thermo-mechanically characterized and used in the baking of high-fat cookies. Palm oil and hydrogenated fats were commonly used in bakery shortenings to achieve texture and flavor. However, saturated and trans-fats have been shown to cause detrimental health effects, motivating their replacement by unsaturated fats. High oleic palm oil (HOPO) is a novel oil with lower saturated fat and higher oleic acid compared to traditional palm oil (TPO). High oleic red olein (HORO) is a carotene-rich fraction of HOPO. Emulsified shortenings with 30% saturated fat containing HOPO, HORO, and TPO were produced. All shortenings resulted in similar onset temperatures of crystallization and melting points through DSC. Mid-melting peaks observed on TPO where absent in HOPO and HORO shortenings, reflected in lower hardness and calculated SFC of HOPO and HORO shortenings vs. TPO shortening. However, physical properties of shortening-containing cookies were not statistically different. It was demonstrated how HOPO and HORO can be used as alternative fats to TPO in the making of shortenings to be used in baking applications.

Refined palm oil fractions: Effect of skim milk powder and maltodextrin on emulsion properties and microencapsulation by spray drying

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate microencapsulation of palm oil fractions (palm olein (POL) and 90% palm olein+10% palm stearin (POS)) using skim milk powder (SMP) and maltodextrin (MD) by spray drying. Twenty-seven emulsions with POL were prepared to determine appropriate solid content (SC) and oil/coating material ratio (O/CM) of the emulsions to be fed into the spray dryer. Emulsion properties, such as viscosity and stability, were affected by SC and coating materials. The effects of coating materials used in microencapsulation of POL and POS were also tested by using different ratios of SMP and MD. The microencapsulation efficiency (69.28–84.97%), the microencapsulation yield (14.50–31.79%), and the peroxide value (4.12–7.07 meq O2/kg oil) of the powders were affected by the coating materials (P < 0.05).

A Review on the Fundamentals of Palm Oil Fractionation: Processing Conditions and Seeding Agents

AbstractFractionation is a well‐established process adopted in the fats and oils industries. It involves the separation of low and high melting triacylglycerol under controlled cooling conditions into olein and stearin fractions with distinct chemical and physical properties. Amongst the other vegetable oils, palm oil is one of the most fractionated oils in the past few decades mainly attributed to its semisolid properties. The various fraction of palm oil allows it to be used in different types of food products such as margarine, frying oil, and cocoa butter substitute. In fractionation, proper control of the fractionation conditions is important to produce the fractions with desirable stearin and olein quality. The purpose of this paper is to critically review the fractionation conditions (crystallization temperature, agitation, cooling rate and crystallization time) that affect the yield and quality of the oil produced. Additionally, it also provides the latest updates on the influence of seeding agents (diacylglycerol, monoacylglycerol, hard fat, phytosterol, phospholipid, lecithin, essential oil, sugar, polyglycerol ester, and talc) used in fractionation. This article is useful to provide a fundamental understanding of fractionation to scientists from the industries or academia working in the fats and oils industries.Practical Applications: This paper provides an in‐depth understanding of fractionation particularly on the parameters of fractionation in influencing the quality and yield of the stearin and olein produced. It also for the first time presents the effect of addition of various seeding agents on palm oil fractionation which can help the industry to select the appropriate seeding agents to improve the currently employed fractionation process. Thus, it can act as a guideline for the industry to understand and select the appropriate fractionation conditions when developing a new product using this approach. The fractionation conditions discussed here can also be used as a reference when fractionating other types of fats and oils as most of them share a common background.

Investigation on pyrolysis mechanism of palm olein and the effect of moisture on its pyrolysis

With the increasing requirements for environmental protection, the development of vegetable insulating oil is deeply valued by the power industry. Palm oil is considered as a valuable research object by reason of its huge yield. As a liquid fraction of palm oil, palm olein has the potential to become a transformer insulating oil due to its excellent dielectric properties and low viscosity after refining. In this paper, molecular dynamics simulation is used to study the pyrolysis of palm olein under thermal stress and the effect of moisture on the pyrolysis mechanism, which can provide theoretical support for the study of palm olein performance degradation in the future. The computer simulation uses the ReaxFF reaction force field to analyze the pyrolysis mechanisms of palm olein at the temperatures of 2000–2800 K and the moisture contents of 0%~0.5%. In computer simulations, the main pyrolysis pathways and the main characteristic product generation pathways of palm olein are summarized by using element tracing technology and simulation images. It is found that some of the simulation results are consistent with the previous experimental results, which verifies the correctness of the simulations. The results show that: 1) There are two different pyrolysis of triglycerides in palm olein under high temperature; C2H4 and CO2 are the main products of palm olein pyrolysis; the increase of temperature will promote the pyrolysis of palm olein and accelerate the generation of products. 2) The hydrolysis reaction will accelerate the pyrolysis processes of palm olein; with the increase of moisture, the content of hydrion in the system will increase due to the ionization of carboxylic acid, thereby further accelerating the generation of characteristic products; the effect of moisture on the pyrolysis of palm olein will be affected by molecular thermal motion, so it shows a certain disorder.

Optimization of Fatty Acid Composition by of Cooking Oils Blending of Different Plant Oils

Fats and oils are important carriers and protectors of liposoluble vitamins: A,D,E,K; Provitamins like carotenes & tocopherols and liposoluble nutraceutical products: Squalene, polyphenols, sterols etc. However, most of single oils do not have the correct balance to meet humans’ nutrition requirement. Some of the most well-known non healthier attributes of using single oils for cooking and other edible purpose are presence of an non balanced amount of Omega 6 (W6) or non-balanced amounts of saturated fatty acids (SFA) or Low content of omega 3 (W3), Excessive PUFA that affects the oil stability during drastic heat treatment in frying applications which yields an harmful oxidations products in oil. Also the UnbalancedW6/W3 content in cooking oil or foods containing fats and Unbalanced short-chain and long-chain FA etc. Unbalanced oil consumption regarding the omega 6: omega 3 ratio affects the health in many aspects as is proven by the scientific findings. Excessive omega 6 fatty acid in human diet promotes inflammation, reduce immunity, increases risk of heart diseases, risk of diabetes, allergy symptoms, hypertension risk, cancer risk, osteoporosis, depression risk and weaken memory.
 In this study, different oils composites of vegetable oils were formulated from tropical oils and seed oils including palm oil fractions, Canola oil, corn, soybean oil, Sunflower seed oil, Olive oil, sesame oil, rice bran oils, cotton seed oil and MCT rich oils . The selected oils are differing in their content of SFA, MUFA and PUFA fatty acids and in their n–3, n–6 and n–9 ratios. The fulfillment of smart balance requirements of FAO/WHO recommended that, approximately 30% of total energy intake (daily) should come from oils and fats. From that total, around 1/3 should be saturated, 1/3 monounsaturated and 1/3 polyunsaturated. It is important that the balance ofW6/W3 be near 2-5/1 has been targeted in these healthier cooking oils composites. Physio-chemical characterization of the blends during thermal treatment applications like frying has been studied. Results showed marked differences in the FAs composition balance between the different oils used for preparing the oil composites. The prepared blends achieve the optimum omega 6: omega 3 balances to prevent control the inflammations had n–6 to n– 3 FAs ratio which varied from 4.9:1 to 4.5:1. This review will help the edible oil producers and related food industry to find out the most economically viable oil blends for cooking purposes, with maximum nutrition as well as desirable physicochemical properties.

Contrastive analysis of lipid composition and thermal and crystallization behavior of olein/stearin fractionated by novel layer melt crystallization from palm oil.

Melt crystallization is typically recognized as a highly efficient and green method for oil fractionation. This work concentrated on novel layer melt crystallization for preparing desirable olein and stearin products from palm oil and the evaluation of fraction quality. Layer melt crystallization was performed at various temperatures and the effects on fractions were evaluated using iodine value (IV), solid fat content (SFC) and melting point. The lipid composition, thermal and crystallization properties, and phase behaviors of the final optimized fractions were determined using gas chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry and differential scanning calorimetry. Increasing crystallization tube temperatures under the same jacket temperature increased the melting point and SFC, while decreasing the IV of the olein product. Opposite results were observed for the stearin product. Major fatty acids in fractions were determined as palmitic acid and oleic acid. 1,2-Dioleoyl-3-palmitoylglycerol and 1,3-dipalmitoyl-2-oleoylglycerol were identified as the main triacylglycerols in olein and stearin fractions, respectively. A critical effect of crystallization temperature on co-crystallization of oleins and stearins was revealed. A transition from plate-like crystal growth to spherulitic growth with spontaneous nucleation was indicated in palm oil and stearin fractions with increasing crystallization temperature. As for olein fractions, a temperature increase resulted in heterogeneous nucleation from instantaneous nucleation. Novel layer melt crystallization was successfully applied and optimized for fractionating palm oil. The composition and property changes of obtained fractions were analyzed and explained at both macroscopic and microscopic levels. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Assessment of rheological methods to study crystallization of palm oil fractions.

This study provides an evaluation of the use of rheology to characterize soft, semi-hard, and hard fats in relation to determine the crystallization onset, crystallization behavior, as well as microstructure development using either a plate-plate or a starch pasting cell (SPC). The results from this study demonstrate that when applying rheology to study fat crystallization, the results must be interpreted with care. The application of a plate-plate geometry allowed for sensitive evaluation of the initial nucleation phase, which was not possible with an SPC. Both geometries could provide information on crystallization behavior in terms of one-step or two-step crystallization. However, in the late stage of the crystallization process, when the fat crystals form a strong network, the SPC could not describe differences in the rheology of the fat-crystal network, which was a possibility by the use of a plate-plate geometry. Thus, oscillatory rheology with a suitable geometry can be used to evaluate the entire crystallization process.

Physicochemical Properties of Palm Oil Fraction (Elaeis guineensis Jacq)

Study about physicochemical properties of olein and stearin fraction of palm oil has been conducted. Research aim was to determine the chemical physical properties of the olein and stearin fractions of palm oil (Elaeis guineensi Jacq) that was originated from North Mamuju, West Sulawesi. Palm oil was fractionated by dry fractionation method to collect the olein and stearin fractions. The physical chemical characteristics of fractions were determined by acid value, saponification value, peroxide value, and iodine value parameters that measured by titrimetry method. The result of analysis showed that the acid values for the olein and stearin fractions acid were 7.04 and 5.83 mg NaOH/g, saponification values were 198.53 and 194.71 mg KOH/g, peroxide values were 0.77 mek O 2 /kg and 0.79 mek O 2 /kg, and iodine values were 34.12 and 32.87 g iod/100 g.

Food for Bone: Evidence for a Role for Delta-Tocotrienol in the Physiological Control of Osteoblast Migration.

Bone remodeling and repair require osteogenic cells to reach the sites that need to be rebuilt, indicating that stimulation of osteoblast migration could be a promising osteoanabolic strategy. We showed that purified δ-tocotrienol (δ-TT, 10 μg/mL), isolated from commercial palm oil (Elaeis guineensis) fraction, stimulates the migration of both MC3T3-E1 osteoblast-like cells and primary human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC) as detected by wound healing assay or Boyden chamber assay respectively. The ability of δ-TT to promote MC3T3-E1 cells migration is dependent on Akt phosphorylation detected by Western blotting and involves Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway activation. In fact, δ-TT increased β-catenin transcriptional activity, measured using a Nano luciferase assay and pretreatment with procaine (2 µM), an inhibitor of the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway, reducing the wound healing activity of δ-TT on MC3T3-E1 cells. Moreover, δ-TT treatment increased the expression of β-catenin specific target genes, such as Osteocalcin and Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2, involved in osteoblast differentiation and migration, and increased alkaline phosphatase and collagen content, osteoblast differentiation markers. The ability of δ-TT to enhance the recruitment of BMSC, and to promote MC3T3-E1 differentiation and migratory behavior, indicates that δ-TT could be considered a promising natural anabolic compound.

Safety and Neuroprotective Efficacy of Palm Oil and Tocotrienol-Rich Fraction from Palm Oil: A Systematic Review.

Background: Several natural products have been reported to elicit beneficial effects against neurodegenerative disorders due to their vitamin E contents. However, the neuroprotective efficacy of palm oil or its tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) from the pre-clinical cell and animal studies have not been systematically reviewed. Methods: The protocol for this systematic review was registered in “PROSPERO” (CRD42019150408). This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) descriptors of PubMed with Boolean operators were used to construct keywords, including (“Palm Oil”[Mesh]) AND “Nervous System”[Mesh], (“Palm Oil”[Mesh]) AND “Neurodegenerative Diseases”[Mesh], (“Palm Oil”[Mesh]) AND “Brain”[Mesh], and (“Palm Oil”[Mesh]) AND “Cognition”[Mesh], to retrieve the pertinent records from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and ScienceDirect from 1990 to 2019, while bibliographies, ProQuest and Google Scholar were searched to ensure a comprehensive identification of relevant articles. Two independent investigators were involved at every stage of the systematic review, while discrepancies were resolved through discussion with a third investigator. Results: All of the 18 included studies in this review (10 animal and eight cell studies) showed that palm oil and TRF enhanced the cognitive performance of healthy animals. In diabetes-induced rats, TRF and α-tocotrienol enhanced cognitive function and exerted antioxidant, anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory activities, while in a transgenic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) animal model, TRF enhanced the cognitive function and reduced the deposition of β-amyloid by altering the expression of several genes related to AD and neuroprotection. In cell studies, simultaneous treatment with α-tocotrienols and neurotoxins improved the redox status in neuronal cells better than γ- and δ-tocotrienols. Both pre-treatment and post-treatment with α-tocotrienol relative to oxidative insults were able to enhance the survival of neuronal cells via increased antioxidant responses. Conclusions: Palm oil and its TRF enhanced the cognitive functions of healthy animals, while TRF and α-tocotrienol enhanced the cognitive performance with attenuation of oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and apoptosis in diabetes-induced or transgenic AD animal models. In cell studies, TRF and α-tocotrienol exerted prophylactic neuroprotective effects, while α-tocotrienol exerted therapeutic neuroprotective effects that were superior to those of γ- and δ-tocotrienol isomers.

PENENTUAN BILANGAN PEROKSIDA MINYAK RBD (REFINED BLEACHED DEODORIZED) OLEIN PT. PHPO DENGAN METODE TITRASI IODOMETRI

This study aims to determine the quality of RBD olein produced by PT. PHPO according to the peroxide number which refers to SNI 01-3741-2002. The sample used is a yellow liquid fraction obtained by fractionation of RBD palm oil or crude palm oil CPO which has undergone a refining process. The sample was analyzed using the iodometric titration method. The results of the calculation of the average peroxide number of RBD olein oil is 0.282 mg O2 / 100 g. Based on these data, Olein RBD oil meets the company quality standard and SNI 01-3741-2002.

Quality parameters of sunflower oil and palm olein during multiple frying

The refined sunflower and palm oils are used in the food industry for the production of fried potatoes. Literary data have shown that palm oil had less tendency to degradation than sunflower oil due to its fatty acid composition. However, palm olein is a palm oil fraction and therefore has a different composition of fatty acids. The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of the refined palm olein in relation to the refined linoleic type sunflower oil during the production of fried potatoes. The oil samples were used for multiple frying during the seven days (40 minutes per day at a temperature of 165oC). The peroxide value and free fatty acid content (acid value) were determined by standard analytical methods. The results showed that the peroxide value in sunflower oil and palm olein increased by 75.0% and 77.8%, while the acid value increased by 50.0% and 26.8%, respectively, in relation to their initial values in the fresh oil samples. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the palm olein was more suitable for frying. However, this finding cannot be reported with certainty because the quality of the oil depends on many more parameters, not only on those analysed in this paper.

Thermodynamic analysis of the isothermal fractionation of palm oil using a novel method for entrainment correction

The crystallisation kinetics of individual triacylglycerols (TAGs) were studied during the isothermal fractionation of palm oil. On filtration, entrainment of liquid olein within the stearin cake was found to significantly affect measured solid stearin compositions. These could be corrected for entrainment using a mass balance based method along with the assumption that triunsaturated TAGs did not crystallise. These calculations indicated high olein entrainment levels of ~57–59% within the stearin cake, with typically only ~10% of the palm oil crystallising. These values were validated using pulsed NMR solid fat content measurements. The corrected stearin compositions revealed that diunsaturated TAGs were also virtually absent in the solid phase. Crystallisation was initially dominated by trisaturated TAGs, and later by the monounsaturated TAGs once the trisaturates had depleted from the liquid. The time-course of individual TAG crystallisation rates correlated well with chemical potential driving forces based on temperature and composition information, assuming ideal behaviour.

In situ monitoring of the biocatalysed partial hydrolysis of cocoa butter and palm oil fraction

SummaryPartial glycerides are widely used ingredients in confectionery products that can be produced from natural fats. In a biocatalytic partial hydrolysis of cocoa butter and palm oil fractions, a product mixture containing 1.5% monoglycerides and 5.5% diglycerides intended for the use in confectionery products was created. This study is a proof of principle that shows the feasibility of monitoring the biocatalytic partial hydrolysis of these two natural fats in situ with ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy. An economic approach was utilised for calibration since partial glyceride calibration standards are costly and poorly available. The released compounds were quantified by means of chemometric modelling, and the model was validated with gas chromatography. Resulting root mean square errors were in the low per cent range. Additionally, the results indicate that distinction of the released free fatty acids is possible with ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy.

Palm Oil Fractions Alter Acute Cadmium Mediated Haematotoxicity

The objective of the research was to contribute to the continual search for natural products that could mitigate alterations in haematological indices due to cadmium poisoning.
 Materials and methods. Seventy-two male Wistar rats were mobilized and divided into six groups (A-F). Group A served as the control one which was neither exposed to cadmium nor treated with palm oil fraction. Group B was not treated with palm oil fractions but received a single dose of 20mgkg-1 body weight of cadmium chloride solution on the 29th day of the experiment, while Groups C-E received 5mlKg-1 bodyweight of crude palm oil, silica gel extract, bleached extract and unsaponifiable extract of palm oil respectively for 28 days before a single dose of 20mgKg-1 body weight of cadmium chloride on the 29th day. Blood samples were collected from four animals via cardiac puncture on the 29th, 30th and 31st day within intervals of 12h, 24h and 48h after cadmium administration. This was then analysed for haematological parameters using an automated haematological analyser. Data analysis was carried out using the one-way factor analysis of variance at a significant level of p<0.05.
 Results. The impact of cadmium intoxication on haematological indices in rats was time-dependent and was mostly felt at the end of the 48-hour period indicating a significant decrease in the packed cell volume, haemoglobin and white blood cells values, while the increase due to cadmium was observed in mean corpuscular haemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume values; pre-treatment of palm oil fractions mitigated the noxious effects of cadmium significantly near control values.
 Conclusions. Crude palm oil and its fractions have the ability to mobilize antioxidant defence potentials against cadmium damage to blood cells.

Beneficial effects of \u03b4-tocotrienol against oxidative stress in osteoblastic cells: studies on the mechanisms of action

PurposeNatural antioxidants are considered as promising compounds in the prevention/treatment of osteoporosis. We studied the ability of purified δ-tocotrienol (δ-TT) isolated from a commercial palm oil (Elaeis guineensis) fraction to protect osteoblast MC3T3-E1 and osteocyte MLO-Y4 cells against tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP)-induced oxidative damage and the mechanisms involved in its protective action in MC3T3-E1.MethodsMC3T3-E1 and MLO-Y4 cells were treated with δ-TT (1.25–20 µg/ml for 2 h) followed by t-BHP at 250 µM or 125 µM for 3 h, respectively. MTT test was used to measure cell viability. Apoptotic cells were stained with Hoechst-33258 dye. Intracellular ROS levels were measured by dichlorofluorescein CM-DCFA. The OPT fluorimetric assay was used to detect the reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione ratio (GSH/GSSG) contents.Resultsδ-TT significantly prevented the effects of t-BHP on cell viability and apoptosis reaching a maximum protective activity at 10 and 5 µg/ml in MC3T3-E1 and MLO-Y4 cells, respectively. This protective effect was due to a reduction of intracellular ROS levels and an increase in the defense systems shown by the increase in the GSH/GSSG. GSH loss induced by an inhibitor of GSH synthesis significantly reduced the δ-TT-positive effect on ROS levels. δ-TT prevention of oxidative damage was completely removed by combined treatment with the specific inhibitors of PI3K/AKT (LY294002) and Nrf2 (ML385).ConclusionsThe δ-TT protective effect against oxidative damage in MC3T3-E1 cells is due to a reduction of intracellular ROS levels and an increase of the GSH/GSSG ratio, and involves an interaction between the PI3K/Akt–Nrf2 signaling pathways.