Elsevier

The Journal of Nutrition

Volume 145, Issue 8, August 2015, Pages 1793-1799
The Journal of Nutrition

Dietary Supplementation with Raspberry Seed Oil Modulates Liver Functions, Inflammatory State, and Lipid Metabolism in Rats1, 2, 3

https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.115.212407Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Abstract

Background: Although raspberry seed oil (RO) is rich in essential fatty acids, there is a lack of experiments assessing benefits of its consumption.

Objective: We investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with RO on healthy rats and rats with low-grade systemic inflammation, liver disorders, and dyslipidemia induced by a high-fat/low-fiber (HF/LF) diet.

Methods: Thirty-two rats were allocated into 4 groups of 8 rats each and fed for 8 wk a control (C; 7% lard and 5% cellulose) or HF/LF (21% lard and 2% cellulose) diet or modifications of these diets in which 7% RO replaced all (C+RO group) or a proportion of (HF/LF+RO group) the lard. Effects of diet and RO and their interaction on bacterial activity and metabolite formations in the distal intestine, liver fat and glutathione concentration, plasma lipid profile, transaminase activities, and plasma concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) were tested.

Results: Dietary RO decreased plasma alanine and aspartate transaminase activities (43.4 and 157 vs. 25.6 and 115 U/L, respectively; P < 0.05 and P < 0.005) and plasma TNF-α and triglyceride concentrations (132 pg/mL and 2.07 mmol/L vs. 86.5 pg/mL and 0.99 mmol/L, respectively; P < 0.05). In livers of the C+RO group, the fat concentration was decreased, whereas the glutathione to glutathione disulfide ratio was increased compared with the C group (30.1% and 6.20 μmol/g vs. 23.3% and 7.25 μmol/g, respectively; P ≤ 0.05); however, those differences were not observed between the HF/LF groups (P-interaction < 0.05). In the HF/LF+RO group, the plasma CRP concentration was lower than in the HF/LF group (88.1 vs. 765 pg/mL; P ≤ 0.05) and similar to that in the C and C+RO groups (158 and 128 pg/mL, respectively).

Conclusion: Dietary RO improves plasma lipid profile and liver functions and reduces low-grade systemic inflammation in rats; however, the extent of these beneficial effects is partly dependent on the diet type.

Keywords

essential fatty acids
cecal microbiota
liver functions
triglycerides
transaminases
Wistar rats

Abbreviations

ACL
the antioxidant capacity of lipid-soluble substances
ACW
antioxidant capacity of water-soluble substances
AI
atherogenic index
ALT
alanine transaminase
AST
aspartate transaminase
C
control
CRP
C-reactive protein
D
type of diet
GSH
reduced glutathione
GSSG
oxidized glutathione
HF/LF
high-fat/low-fiber
RO
raspberry seed oil
TC
total cholesterol
α-gal
α-galactosidase
α-glu
α-glucosidase
β-gal
β-galactosidase
β-glu
β-glucosidase

Cited by (0)

1

Supported by the National Science Center, Poland (decision DEC-2011/01/D/NZ9/ 00060).

2

Author disclosures: B Fotschki, A Jurgoński, J Juśskiewicz, and Z Zduńczyk, no conflicts of interest.

3

Supplemental Table 1 is available from the “Online Supporting Material” link in the online posting of the article and from the same link in the online table of contents at http://jn.nutrition.org.