Hammouda, SouhaGhzaiel, ImenPicón-Pagès, PolMeddeb, WiemKhamlaoui, WidedHammami, SoniaMuñoz López, Francisco José, 1964-Hammami, MohamedZarrouk, Amira2021-07-192021-07-192021Hammouda S, Ghzaiel I, Picón-Pagès P, Meddeb W, Khamlaoui W, Hammami S, Muñoz FJ, Hammami M, Zarrouk A. Nigella and milk thistle seed oils: potential cytoprotective effects against 7β-hydroxycholesterol-induced toxicity on SH-SY5Y cells. Biomolecules. 2021;11(6):797. DOI: 10.3390/biom110607972218-273Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/10230/48215Oxysterols are assumed to be the driving force behind numerous neurodegenerative diseases. In this work, we aimed to study the ability of 7β-hydroxycholesterol (7β-OHC) to trigger oxidative stress and cell death in human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) then the capacity of Nigella sativa and Milk thistle seed oils (NSO and MTSO, respectively) to oppose 7β-OHC-induced side effects. The impact of 7β-OHC, associated or not with NSO or MTSO, was studied on different criteria: cell viability; redox status, and apoptosis. Oxidative stress was assessed through the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, levels of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, lipid, and protein oxidation products. Our results indicate that 7β-OHC (40 µg/mL) exhibit pr-oxidative and pro-apoptotic activities shown by a decrease of the antioxidant enzymatic activities and an increase of ROS production, lipid, and protein oxidation end products as well as nitrotyrosine formation and caspase 3 activation. However, under the pre-treatment with NSO, and especially with MTSO (100 µg/mL), a marked attenuation of oxidative damages was observed. Our study suggests harmful effects of 7β-OHC consisting of pro-oxidative, anti-proliferative, and pro-apoptotic activities that may contribute to neurodegeneration. NSO and especially MTSO showed potential cytoprotection against the cytotoxicity of 7β-OHC.application/pdfeng© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom110607977β-hydroxycholesterolAntioxidantsAntioxidants enzymesCellular oxidative stressNeuroblastoma cellsNeurodegenertioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess