Abstract

Palm oil has long been incriminated in obesity, and this obesity would be responsible for the development of cardiac fibrosis, several authors have evoked the role of free radicals in the pathophysiological mechanism of the fibrotic response linked to obesity; the aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the profile of NOX2 in the development of cardiac fibrosis in rats subjected to a diet rich in the fat of several vegetable oils, in this case palm oil. A total of forty young male Wistar rats were subjected to several diets (soybean, red and branched palm oil, olive and lard). After twelve weeks of experimentation, the rats were sacrificed after anaesthesia, and the parameters of oxidative stress, inflammation and the level of interstitial fibrosis of the heart were assessed. Our study showed that red palm oil consumption did not lead to overexpression of oxidative stress parameters and inflammatory RNA markers. The expression of myocardial nicotine adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase did not change in rats consuming red palm oil compared to the control diet. However, consumption of palm olein, olive and lard resulted in a significant change in myocardial nicotine adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase activity. This study seems to show that red palm oil, because of its richness in antioxidants, would be less deleterious for the heart.

Key words: Oxidative stress-inflammation-palm oil-cardiac fibrosis.