Pretreatment with n-6 PUFA protects against subsequent high fat diet induced atherosclerosis-Potential role of oxidative stress-induced antioxidant defense

摘要

ObjectivesRecent evidence suggests that oxidative stress can promote antioxidant defense and thus be athero-protective. n-6 Polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-6 PUFA) are more prone to oxidation, compared to monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and yet have proven anti-atherosclerotic effects. In this study, we tested whether early exposure to a diet rich in n-6 PUFA, compared to a MUFA rich diet would reduce lesion burden, even with subsequent exposure to a high fat, high cholesterol diet (HF). Further, we tested to determine whether oxidative mechanisms are involved in such protection.