Protective effects of olive oil against cardiac aging through mitophagy and apoptosis

Cardiac mitochondrial dysfunction is an important feature of aged heart. However, there is still no potent agent to ameliorate cardiac function abnormalities in aged hosts. Olive oil (OLO), containing monounsaturated fatty acids, has diverse protective effects on the cardiovascular system, including anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-hypertensive effects. We evaluated the beneficial impacts of OLO against aging-related cardiac dysfunction. Wistar rats were randomly allotted into three groups with eight rats, including control, aged rats receiving D-galactose (D-GAL), and aged rats administrated with D-galactose plus OLO (D-GAL + OLO). Aged animals were received D-GAL at a dose of 150.00 mg kg^-1 daily through intra-peritoneal injection for aging induction. The animals in D-GAL + OLO group were co-administrated with oral OLO at a dose of 1.00 mL kg^-1 by gavage feeding daily. The administration term was eight weeks. A histological examination of heart tissue was performed. The heart tissues were also harvested to assay the oxidative stress and molecular parameters. The aged animals showed cardiac hypertrophy, increased malondialdehyde level and Bax expression, and reduced mitofusin 2, phosphatase and tensin homologue-induced putative kinase 1, dynamin-related protein 1, and Bcl2 expressions in comparison with the control animals. The OLO treatment ameliorated all these parameters. Overall, OLO could improve cardiac aging through reducing oxidative stress, enhancing genes mediated mitophagy, and improving genes mediated apoptosis in the heart.