Pathological Effects of Dietary Rapeseed Oil in Rats

Abstract

The pathological effects of dietary rapeseed oil (RSO) in rats have been investigated. Rats given 60 cal% RSO for 2 weeks showed fatty accumulation in the heart, skeletal muscles and adrenals. In another experiment, 60 cal% RSO was given for 2, 4, 8 and 16 weeks. The fatty infiltration of the skeletal muscles, adrenals and hearts regressed with the increase in the dietary period, but in the heart, necrotic foci, aggregations of mono-nuclear cells, and an increase in the connective tissue elements ensued. From a 2-week dose-response study, 20 cal% RSO was established as the minimum level causing the fatty accumulation. Similar lesions were produced by feeding RSO or glyceryl trierucate on an isocaloric erucic acid basis. Erucic acid thus appears to be the constituent in RSO responsible for its pathological effects. It was shown that the fatty infiltration of the heart and skeletal muscles occurs after 1 day of RSO feeding and becomes most severe after 3–6 days. The myocardial fatty infiltration in rats given RSO for 3 days markedly decreased after the feeding of this oil had been discontinued. It is suggested that the fatty infiltration of the heart and skeletal muscles by RSO reflects a slower oxidation of fatty acids in these organs.

Rapeseed oil-rich diet alters hepatic mitochondrial membrane lipid composition and disrupts bioenergetics

“…Many studies regarding the effects of rapeseed oil-enriched diets on membrane composition and function (Dewailly et al 1977;Innis and Clandinin 1981a, b;Renner et al 1979) were triggered by the correlation between longtime exposure to these diets and rat heart lesions, including necrotic foci, aggregations of mononuclear cells and an increase in the connective tissue elements. These adverse effects were attributed to erucic acid, a major constituent in rapeseed oil (Abdellatif and Vles 1970). Interestingly, other studies point exactly in the opposite direction.…”

“…The relevance of this oil on human nutrition has increased remarkably in the last decades, representing 15 % of world vegetable oil production in 2008, just behind palm oil and soybean oil (Rosillo-Calle et al 2009). The interest on the use of rapeseed oil in this context arose from the observation that heart pathological lesions took place after longtime dietary exposure to that oil (Abdellatif and Vles 1970). Bioenergetic studies revealed that the efficiency of rat heart mitochondria to oxidize substrates was substantially lowered when rapeseed oil was incorporated in the diet (Houtsmuller et al 1970).…”

The absence of ABCD2 sensitizes mice to disruptions in lipid metabolism by dietary erucic acid

“…EA causes a transient lipidosis and dilated cardiomyopathy in several species and is associated with an elevation in hepatic triglycerides after long-term feeding in rats ( 30 ). However, mice are resistant to these effects.…”

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometric determination of fatty acids in seed oil of winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC).

“…However, when rats were fed on a diet containing 9.2Cal% erucic acid for 2 weeks, only minor fatty infiltration of the heart and skeletal muscles was observed (15). Erucic acid having no significant influence was also reported in myocardial lesions when rats were fed for 16 weeks on commercial lard to which 5.4% erucic acid was added (16).…”

“…In recent years, researches on fat metabolism have come to suggest some possible adverse effects of erucic acid in the diet (14)(15)(16). However, when rats were fed on a diet containing 9.2Cal% erucic acid for 2 weeks, only minor fatty infiltration of the heart and skeletal muscles was observed (15).…”