Dietary conjugated linoleic acid as dietary medicament for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders

Dietary conjugated linoleic acid as dietary medicament for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders A. Petroni1 , M. Cappa2 , C. Bizzarri2 , C. Vacca3 , A.R. Sirigu3 , M.Blasevich1 , A. Piras3 and S. Banni3 1 Department of Pharmacological Sciences, via Balzaretti 9, Milan; 2 Department of Pediatrics Medicine, Endocrinology Unit, Children’s Hospital “Bambino Gesù”, Rome; 3 Department of Experimental Biology, University of Cagliari, Italy. Neurodegenerative disorders are often associated to lipid metabolic alterations and secondary inflammatory processes. X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD), a demyelinating disorder, is characterized by the abnormal accumulation of very long chain fatty acids (VLCFA). Lorenzo's Oil (LO), a mixture of glyceryl trioleate and glyceryl trierucate, is able to normalize lipid metabolic alterations in patients although not always the progression of the disease. Our objective was to introduce conjugated linoleic acid isomers (CLA) as therapeutic approach for X-ALD and for other neurodegenerative disorders. We tested a mixture of LO (40 g/day) with CLA (5 g/day) for 2 months, in female heterozygous X−ALD individuals, to determine whether CLA crosses the blood-brain barrier and exerts a synergistic effect with LO. After the treatment, CLA was detected in the liquor indicating the passage through the blood-brain barrier and the mixture decreased the VLCFA 26:0 and the ratio 26:0/22:0 in plasma. Somatosensory evoked potentials were improved after the treatment with the mixture, whereas with dietary LO, were found unchanged. We conclude that the synergistic action of LO with CLA, besides inhibiting elongases and preventing the formation of 26:0, it enhances peroxisomal beta-oxidation both in peripheral tissues and in the brain, partially re-establishing the physiologic neurological function which in turn might improve the somatosensory evoked potentials. Our results are opening the field for a novel promising therapeutic strategy for X-ALD and other neurodegenerative disorders. Sponsor: Biomedicine and Nutrition Association, Italy (www.biomedicinanutrizione.org).