Effect of Argan Oil on Platelet Aggregation and Bleeding Time: A Beneficial Nutritional Property

✍ Scribed by Mekhfi, Hassane; Gadi, Dounia; Bnouham, Mohammed; Ziyyat, Abderrahim; Legssyer, Abdelkhaleq; Aziz, Mohammed

• Book ID: 121464043
• Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 255 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 2194-6329
• DOI: 10.2202/1553-3840.1164

✦ Synopsis

Platelet hyperactivity is one of the most important factors responsible for thrombosis and incidence of cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we investigated the effect of argan oil (0.2, 0.5, 1 and 2 %) on blood platelet aggregation (in vitro and ex vivo) and on tail bleeding time (in vivo) on rats. The in vitro aggregation was monitored after pre-incubation of platelets with argan oil for one minute. The in vivo bleeding time and ex vivo aggregation were performed after 4 weeks of oral treatment (10 ml/Kg/day). Argan oil was found to possess a maximum inhibition of the in vitro (46.4±4.3 %) and ex vivo platelet aggregation induced by different agonists (43.4±5.51 %). The ex vivo aggregation inhibition was not accompanied by a change in the platelets amount, neither in the bleeding time (5.5±0.3 min). These results suggest that argan oil may probably act directly on the common and an ultimate step of aggregation: attachment of fibrinogen to GpIIb/IIIa platelet receptors without affecting platelet adhesiveness to the vascular endothelium. These findings give evidence that the dietary intake of argan oil may be beneficial in the normalization of platelet hyperactivation and in the nutritional prevention of cardiovascular diseases.