Composition of fatty acids in commercially available tree nuts and their relationship with protective effects against oxidative stress-induced neurotoxicity

Fatty acid profiles of commercially available tree nuts were analyzed and association between fatty acid composition and protective effects against oxidative stress was investigated. Among commercially available tree nuts, walnuts showed the most potent protective effects for both cell viability and 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein (DCF) formation. Neuronal cell viability and inhibition of intracellular oxidative stress were inversely related to saturated fatty acid contents in tree nuts. Eigen analysis revealed that principal component (PC) 1 was mainly contributed by 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCF-DA), DPPH, and C18:2 and C18:3. PC2 was contributed by MTT assay, and saturated fatty acids. Walnuts exhibited the highest potency against oxidative stress closely related with C18:3, based on principal component analysis (PCA) and Pearson's correlation analyses. A combination of fatty acid profiling using chromatographic analysis and PCA is a promising method to evaluate oxidative stress.