Study Demonstrates Role of Phenols in Early Pregnancy

Oleuropein, a phe­no­lic com­pound found in olive oil, fruits and leaves, is well known for its antiox­i­dant, anti-inflam­ma­tory and neu­ro­pro­tec­tive effects.

While numer­ous stud­ies have demon­strated the ben­e­fits of olive oil-rich diets dur­ing preg­nancy, there have been no human stud­ies on the role of olive phe­nols or polyphe­nols in embryo implan­ta­tion and devel­op­ment.

A new study pub­lished in a spe­cial issue of the jour­nal Antioxidants has sought to address this issue by exam­in­ing the impact of oleu­ropein on oxida­tive stress on human tro­phoblasts: cells formed dur­ing the first stage of preg­nancy that pro­vide nutri­ents to the embryo.

In vitro exper­i­ments per­formed by the research team found that oleu­ropein sig­nif­i­cantly reduced oxida­tive dam­age and restored antiox­i­dant func­tion­ing in tro­phoblasts sub­jected to hydro­gen per­ox­ide, which was used to model oxida­tive stress.

Not only did it improve antiox­i­dant sta­tus and pre­vent pro­tein and lipid dam­age, but oleu­ropein also reduced iNOS lev­els, exces­sive pro­duc­tion of which has been linked to improper embryo trans­port and ectopic preg­nancy.

Reactive oxy­gen species, vari­eties of free rad­i­cals, play a vital role in nor­mal preg­nancy. Still, an excess is known to cause oxida­tive stress, lead­ing to seri­ous com­pli­ca­tions such as ges­ta­tional dia­betes, preeclamp­sia, or even fetal loss.

The poten­tial for antiox­i­dants to pre­vent and treat such dis­or­ders is receiv­ing increas­ing atten­tion. However, very few antiox­i­dant com­po­nents have so far shown sig­nif­i­cant effects on preg­nancy dis­or­ders.

Most com­mon antiox­i­dant sup­ple­ments, such as vit­a­min C and vit­a­min E, have not only been found to be inef­fec­tive in reduc­ing the risk of com­pli­ca­tions but have even been asso­ci­ated with an increase in still­births.

The researchers noted that exist­ing stud­ies of olive oil sup­ple­men­ta­tion in the pre-con­cep­tion period and dur­ing preg­nancy have demon­strated that a sup­ple­men­ta­tion period could improve embryo qual­ity para­me­ters in in vitro human embryo devel­op­ment.

They also empha­sized that no indi­ca­tions of adverse effects in the tro­phoblast cells were observed from the intro­duc­tion of oleu­ropein, thus paving the way for fur­ther research.

• Antioxidants
• Journal of Clinical Medicine