Tocotrienol is a cardioprotective agent against ageing-associated cardiovascular disease and its associated morbidities

Nardev Ramanathan^1,2 , Esther Tan³, Li Jun Loh³, Boon Seng Soh^3,4,5 and Wei Ney Yap^1,2
¹Department of R&D, Davos Life Science Pte Ltd, 3 Biopolis Drive, #04-19, Davos 138623, Singapore.
²Department of R&D, Level 8, Menara KLK 1,Jalan Pju 7/6,Mutiara Damansara, 47810, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
³Disease Modeling and Therapeutics Laboratory, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, 61 Biopolis Drive Proteos, Singapore 138673, Singapore.
⁴Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore. 5Key Laboratory for Major Obstetric Diseases of Guangdong Province, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510150, China.

Nutrition & Metabolism (2018) 15:6
DOI 10.1186/s12986-018-0244-4
Published online: 19 January 2018

Abstract:

Ageing is a nonmodifiable risk factor that is linked to increased likelihood of cardiovascular morbidities. Whilst many pharmacological interventions currently exist to treat many of these disorders such as statins for hypercholesterolemia or beta-blockers for hypertension, the elderly appear to present a greater likelihood of suffering non-related side effects such as increased risk of developing new onset type 2 diabetes (NODM). In some cases, lower efficacy in the elderly have also been reported. Alternative forms of treatment have been sought to address these issues, and there has been a growing interest in looking at herbal remedies or plant-based natural compounds. Oxidative stress and inflammation are implicated in the manifestation of ageing-related cardiovascular disease. Thus, it is natural that a compound that possesses both antioxidative and anti-inflammatory bioactivities would be considered. This review article examines the potential of tocotrienols, a class of Vitamin E compounds with proven superior antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activity compared to tocopherols (the other class of Vitamin E compounds), in ameliorating ageing-related cardiovascular diseases and its associated morbidities. In particular, the potential of tocotrienols in improving inflammaging, dyslipidemia and mitochondrial dysfunction in ageing-related cardiovascular diseases are discussed.

Keywords:

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), Ageing, Tocotrienols, Tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF), α-tocopherol, Inflammation, Inflammaging, Oxidative stress, Atherosclerosis, Reactive oxygen species (ROS)