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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2006;26:2577.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Alpha-Linolenic Acid–Rich Wheat Germ Oil Decreases Oxidative Stress and CD40 Ligand in Patients With Mild Hypercholesterolemia

Cesare Alessandri; Pasquale Pignatelli; Lorenzo Loffredo; Luisa Lenti; Maria Del Ben; Roberto Carnevale; Alessandro Perrone; Domenico Ferro; Francesco Angelico; Francesco Violi

From the Department of Experimental Medicine and Pathology, IV Clinical Division, Università di Roma "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy.

Correspondence to Prof Francesco Violi, Divisione IV Clinica Medica, University "La Sapienza", Viale del Policlinico 161, 00185 Rome, Italy. E-mail francesco.violi@uniroma1.it

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Epidemiological studies have underlined that a higher intake of -linolenic acid (18:3n-3) is inversely associated with coronary and carotid atherosclerotic disease.¹ Long-chain n-3 fatty acids have been suggested to delay the atherosclerotic process through an antiinflammatory activity² and in turn to stabilize vulnerable plaque.³ Previous studies suggested, in particular, that n-3 fatty acids may exert an antiinflammatory action by reducing oxidative stress.⁴ As we have previously shown that oxidative stress is implicated in upregulating CD40 ligand (CD40L), a protein with inflammatory and prothrombotic property,^5,6 we tested the hypothesis that 18:3n-3 may protect against atherosclerotic disease also via inhibiting oxidative stress–mediated CD40L expression. To investigate this issue, 32 patients with hypercholesterolemia were randomly allocated, in a double blind fashion, to 2 months supplementation with 2 vegetable oils (1 tbsp/d) containing low (maize oil, 0.63%) or high (wheat germ oil, 8.6%) percentage of 18:3n-3. Before and after treatment oxidative stress and CD40L, a protein that is implicated in the progression of atherosclerotic disease,⁵ were measured. Also, we analyzed in vitro whether 18:3n-3 fatty acids were able to influence platelet oxidative stress and CD40L expression (for expanded Methods, see supplementary data available online at http://atvb.ahajournals.org).

There were no differences in clinical and laboratory characteristics between the 2 groups; after supplementation with both vegetable oils, no change of serum lipid profile was observed (not shown).

Maize oil supplementation did not change either soluble CD40 Ligand (sCD40L) data or 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a marker of oxidative stress⁷ (not shown). Conversely, a parallel (r=0.534; P. . . [Full Text of this Article]

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