Author(s): Saadat Parhizkar, Gholamhossein Shahraki, Behrooz Hassanpour, Parvin Abedi
Aims: This study was aimed to compare the metabolic impact of unsaturated fatty acids in experimental menopause induced rats Study design: Animal model experimental design
Methodology: Forty female Sprague Dawley rats, aged 16 weeks were ovariectomized in order to induce menopause pattern and were randomly allotted into five groups: negative control (taking 1 ml olive oil/ day); positive control (taking 0.2 mg/kg/day Conjucated Equine Estrogen: CEE); experimental groups (taking 50 mg/kg/day Linoleic acid or 10 mg/kg/day Gamma Linolenic acid or 15mg/kg/day Thymoquinone ). All of supplements administered via intragastric gavage for 21 consecutive days. Food and water intake were measured daily and body weight and biochemical parameters were measured at baseline, 11th day and at the end of experiment. Results: All treatment groups showed significant (P<.05) improvement with reference to blood glucose and serum HDL level in the first 10 days while the serum glucose level increased significantly (P<.05) until the end of experiment in all groups. Similarly, all treatment groups showed a decline in serum triglyceride 10 days, but the effect was much higher in LA and GLA groups respectively. Significant weight reducing effect (P<.05) existed in gamma linolenic group. Conclusion: These results suggested that supplementing with unsaturated fatty acids exert a therapeutic and protective effect by modifying weight gain, improving lipid profile and blood glucose which can reduce menopause burden in this context.