Salubrious effects of dietary supplementation of squalene and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid concentrate on mitochondrial function in young and aged rats

The present study was designed to investigate the salubrious effects of dietary supplementation of squalene and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid concentrate on mitochondrial function in liver tissue of young and aged rats. The combined dietary supplementation of squalene and polyunsaturated fatty acids significantly attenuated age-associated inhibition on the activities of mitochondrial tricarcarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle enzymes (isocitrate dehydrogenase, α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase, and malate dehydrogenase) and respiratory marker enzyme (NADH dehydrogenase) and maintained the hepatic energy status at near normal. Co-supplementation of squalene and n-3 PUFA exerted synergistic effect in counteracting the reactive oxygen species in the liver mitochondria of aged rats by maintaining the mitochondrial antioxidant status at level comparable to that of young controls. The results of the present investigation have shown that the combined dietary intake of squalene and PUFA concentrate is more effective in ameliorating the age-associated aberrations as compared to per se supplementation.