1. Aorta Adhesion Molecules in Cholesterol-fed Rats Supplemented with Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Sunflower Oil, in Either Commercial or Modified Forms Ageliki I. Katsarou, Andriana C. Kaliora, Antonia Chiou, Apostolos Papalois, Nick Kalogeropoulos, Nikolaos K. Andrikopoulos Laboratory of Chemistry-Biochemistry-Physical Chemistry of Foods, School of Health Science and Education, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Athens, Greece Experimental-Research Center ELPEN, Pikermi, Greece

2. Introduction/Aim of the study What is the effect of individual olive oil macro- or micro-constituents? Possible synergisms among them? EVOO lipid and polar phenol fraction evaluation for their effect on inflammatory markers in cholesterol-fed rats. ? Chronic inflammation plays a pivotal role in CVD development, while phytochemicals have been shown to reduce CVD risk. Several studies have correlated olive oil consumption with CVD prevention and CVD risk reduction.

3. 48 male Wistar rats 9-week intervention: HCD: high-cholesterol diet; EVOO: extra virgin olive oil; EVOOd: EVOO deprived of phenolic compounds; SO: sunflower oil; SOe:enriched with the EVOO phenolic compounds i) Blood samples:Dyslipidemia markers: Total Cholesterol, LDL-c ii) Aorta samples:Inflammation markers: E-selectin, VCAM-1, ICAM-1 (SPSS 19.0 software, Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney test, p<0.05) Experimental Oils (commercially available or modified as to their polar phenol content, 10% each) GroupsCholesterol (2% )EVOOEVOOdSOSOe Control----- HCD+---- EVOO++--- EVOOd+-+-- SO+--+- SOe+---+

4. Results Dyslipidemia: Elevated serum Total Cholesterol and LDL-c in HCD group E-selectin, VCAM-1: Increase in HCD group attenuated when rats supplemented with EVOO and EVOOd diets VCAM-1: Lower in SOe group compared to SO * ** * *

5.  EVOO was found superior in regulating inflammation markers (E-selectin, VCAM-1) in rat aorta compared to SO  EVOO and EVOOd exhibited analogous effects on all inflammation markers assessed  Overall, EVOO major constituents (oleates) improve E- selectin and VCAM-1 levels in rat aorta, independently from phenolics Conclusive Marks