Effect of long-chain fatty alcohols from orujo olive oil on nitric oxide and eicosanoid generation

Trabajo presentado en el 1st International Immunonutrition Workshop, celebrado en Valencia (España) del 03 al 05 de octubre de 2007.Olive pomace oil (`orujo¿ oil) is an olive oil product suitable for human consumption that is traditionally produced in Spain(1). The nonacylglycerol component of this oil is a good source of interesting minor components, e.g. triterpenes(2), or fatty alcohols, derived from waxy materials. Tetracosanol (C24OH; 30%), hexacosanol (C26OH; 37%) and octacosanol (C28OH; 15%) are the major constituents of the long-chain fatty alcohol (LCFA) fraction isolated from orujo olive oil(3). A similar mixture of long-chain alcohols, termed `policosanol¿ and purified from waxy materials of different sources such as sugar cane, bees wax, rice bran or spinach, have shown many beneficial physiological activities(4,5). The present study focused on the effect of LCFA isolated from orujo olive oil on NO, PGE2 and TNFa release by a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine macrophage cell line (RAW-264.7) as well as the effect on thromboxane B2 (TXB2) generation by A-23187-stimulated rat peritoneal neutrophils (PMN). Nitrite (as an index of NO generation) levels were determined by a fluorometric method. PGE2, TNFa and TXB2 production were quantified by sandwich immunoassay. LCFA significantly and dose-dependently decreased the NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW-264.7 cell line macrophages (Fig. 1). Western-blot analysis for inducible NO synthase (iNOS) showed that NO reduction was a consequence of the 100% inhibition of iNOS expression at a dose of 100 mg/ml (Fig. 2). By contrast, LCFA scarcely affected PGE2 levels (Fig. 1). TNFa production was also significantly decreased by LCFA at the highest dose assayed (100 mg/ml; Fig. 1). LCFA significantly reduced TXA2 production in ratThis study is part of the project AGL2005–00572/ALI, financially supported by the Comision Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CICYT)