Abstract 702: Walnut Treatment Reduces Specific Pro-inflammatory Lipid Mediators While Increasing Anti-inflammatory Ones: An RCT subanalysis

Abstract

Background: Lipid mediators are transported in plasma, inducing pro- or anti-inflammatory responses in target tissues. Each daily nut serving is associated with 30% reduction in risk for cardiovascular or ischemic heart disease. Walnuts are an abundant source of bioactives and of precursors to lipid mediator synthesis: linoleic (LA) and alpha-linolenic (aLA) acids. How walnuts impact plasma lipid mediators either by providing more substrate or more specifically via other bioactives is unknown. Objective: Measure lipid mediators from the cyclooxygenase (COX), lipoxygenase (LOX), cytochrome p450 (CYP), and auto-oxidative pathways in plasma from subjects consuming large and small amounts of walnuts. Design: 40 hypercholesterolemic, postmenopausal females were randomly assigned to a null dose (5g/d) or an active dose (40 g/d) of walnuts for 4 weeks. In a subset of 20 subjects, plasma lipid mediators synthesized from LA, aLA and other polyunsaturated fatty acids were measured by LC/MS/MS at baseline and final visits. Differences are reported as mean, 95% CIs. Results: Walnuts did not alter the compositional abundance of any plasma fatty acid except aLA, which was increased 1.46 fold [1.83, 1.16], p=0.003. Walnuts did modify plasma lipid mediator composition: specific pro-inflammatory COX metabolites, PGD2 and PGJ2/delta-12-PGJ2 were reduced by -72% [-43, -86] and -55% [-9, -77] respectively. LOX metabolites were almost uniformly depressed: the immediate mid-chain alcohols of LA (HODEs), dgLA (HETrEs), AA (HETEs), EPA (HEPEs) and DHA (HDoHEs) were reduced by 50-75% (p≤0.007), but aLA (HOTEs) were not. Metabolites of 5-LOX further downstream were also reduced: 5-KETE by 79% [-91, -50], and 6-trans-LTB4 by -89% [-76, -95]. Conversely, anti-inflammatory CYP-epoxides of LA (EpOME) and aLA (EpODE) were increased 82% [3, 223] and 143% [37, 331]. Epoxides of eicosanoids and docosanoids were unchanged (AA EpETrEs or EETs; EPA EpETEs; DHA EpDPEs). Conclusion: Walnut feeding reduces plasma pro-inflammatory COX and LOX metabolites while increasing some anti-inflammatory CYP metabolites. The effect occurs largely without changes in fatty acids, suggesting a molecular mechanism independent of simple changes in precursor abundance.