STUDY OF THE NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF FOUR DIFFERENT EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OILS

Neurodegenerative diseases represent an increasingly public health problem, especially in the aging population, still in search of an effective therapy. The consumption of extra-virgin olive oil represents the main source of phenols from Mediterranean diet. In vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated preventive and protective properties of extra-virgin olive oil against neurodegeneration. In particular, the specific phenolic pattern of different extra virgin olive oils could influence their biological activity such as neuroprotection. To deepen this hypothesis, we investigated the potential differences in neuroprotective effects of four extra virgin olive oil extracts against H2O2-induced oxidative damage in differentiated SH-SY5Y cells by determining their effect in modulating antioxidant enzymes and pro-survival pathways. The different olive oil extracts were characterized for their content in tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol, oleacein and oleocanthal by HPLC. SH-SY5Y were treated with different concentrations (1-500 μg/mL) of the four extracts (corniolo, collina, pianura and spes) in the presence and absence of H2O2. Interestingly, collina is the most effective in counteracting oxidative damage as evaluated by MTT and LDH assays. Collina, pianura and spes reduced the H2O2-induced release of reactive oxygen species level as measured by dichloro-dihydro- fluorescein diacetate assay. Moreover, collina, pianura and spes increased GSH level measured by monochlorobimane assay. The extracts were also able to modulate phase II antioxidant enzymes and BDNF mRNA levels as measured by RT-PCR. Our findings confirm that extra-virgin olive oil possesses beneficial effects in counteracting neurodegeneration and these effects are strongly related to the specific pattern of olive oil phenols presents in the different olive oils.