Hepatic transcriptomics of squalene in male Apoe-deficient mice on Western diet

Background and Purpose: Squalene is the main hydrocarbon present in extra virgin olive oil and it has been reported to have anti-steatotic properties in different animal models. The aims of this study were to investigate its effects on liver transcriptomics in Male C57BL/6J Apoe-deficient mice. Experimental Approaches: Male C57BL/6J Apoe-deficient mice were fed a purified Western diet with or without squalene during 11 weeks and hepatic squalene content was assessed. Hepatic transcriptomic changes were studied and confirmed by RT-qPCR. Key Results: Squalene supplementation increased its hepatic content. The Cyp2b10 and Cyp2c55 gene expressions were significantly up-regulated by the squalene intake in all animal models, with independence of sex, sexual hormones, dietary fat content, genetic background and dose, and were strongly associated with antioxidant defense capacity and with lipid content and composition. Conclusions and Implications: hepatic squalene exerts its activity through overexpression of these cytochromes and their changes in virgin olive oil diets may be due to squalene. Two-condition experiment, livers of squalene-containing Western diet vs those Western diet fed mice. Biological replicates: 4 hepatic RNA pools were prepared for control male mice receiving Western diets and another four for squalene-supplemented male Apoe-deficient mice on the same diet, each pool consisting of RNA from 2 or 3 animals.