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Effects of Cold Pressed Chia Seed Oil Intake on Hematological and Biochemical Biomarkers in Both Normal and Hypercholesterolemic Rabbits

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Abstract

Most of the studies on the beneficial effects of chia have been conducted with its seeds. There is less evidence about the effects of cold pressed chia seeds oil on hypercholesterolemia-induced alterations. Thus, this study investigated the effects of cold pressed chia seed oil supplementation on certain hematological and biochemical biomarkers in both normal and hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Thirty two male rabbits were assigned to four different groups and fed on: 1) a regular diet (CD), 2) CD supplemented with 10% chia oil, 3) CD supplemented with 1% cholesterol, 4) CD supplemented with 1% cholesterol and 10% chia oil. After six weeks of dietary interventions, mean arterial blood pressure and visceral fat were measured and blood samples were analyzed for lipid profiles and hematological parameters while erythrocyte membranes and retroperitoneal fat were analyzed for fatty acids composition and biochemical biomarkers. Dietary intervention with chia oil achieved control of the hypercholesterolemia-induced increase of mean arterial blood pressure, neutrophil to lymphocytes ratio, erythrocyte membrane fluidity, and improved erythrocyte morphological alterations. With regard to inflammatory biomarkers, chia oil supplementation reduced omega-6/omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids ratios and arachidonic/linolenic fatty acids ratios both in erythrocytes and fat from normal and hypercholesterolemic rabbits. The increase of linolenic fatty acid into the retroperitoneal fat was about 9 times higher than its respective controls. These results provide support for the potential health benefits of chia oil intake on hypercholesterolemia-associated clinical, hematological and biochemical alterations.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Agustina Gonzalez Colombres and Roxana Giribaldi for technical support. In addition, we thank Dr Patricia Black for language assessment of the revised manuscript.

Funding

This research was supported by: PICT 2015/1164 (ANCyT-Argentina); PIUNT G621 (SCAIT, Argentina) and by institutional funds from Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas (INSIBIO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas (INSIBIO, UNT-CONICET), Av. Independencia 1800, 4000, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Gabriela Alarcon, Julieta Roco & Susana Jerez

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán (UNT), Miguel Lillo 298, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Gabriela Alarcon, Liliana Sierra, Carina Van Nieuwenhove, Analia Medina, Mirta Medina & Susana Jerez

  3. Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos (CERELA-CONICET), Chacabuco 145, 4000, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Carina Van Nieuwenhove

Authors
  1. Gabriela Alarcon
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  2. Liliana Sierra
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  3. Julieta Roco
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  4. Carina Van Nieuwenhove
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  5. Analia Medina
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  6. Mirta Medina
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  7. Susana Jerez
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Gabriela Alarcón, Julieta Roco, Liliana Sierra, Analia Medina, Carina Van Nieuwenhove and Mirta Medina. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Susana Jerez and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susana Jerez.

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Ethical Approval

All experimental protocols were approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (CICUAL from the National University of Tucuman, Argentina-Approval number: 021/2019; Date: November 15th, 2019; Date endorsed: March 23th, 2021) according to the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (NIH Publication 8th edition, updated 2011).

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Alarcon, G., Sierra, L., Roco, J. et al. Effects of Cold Pressed Chia Seed Oil Intake on Hematological and Biochemical Biomarkers in Both Normal and Hypercholesterolemic Rabbits. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 78, 179–185 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-022-01036-4

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