Mechanism of Anti‐aging and Oxidative Stress Regulation Effect by Marine Fish oil and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid

Abstract

The aim of this study was to systematically investigate the mechanism of anti‐aging effect by marine fish oil and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and to expand a novel function for fish oil based nutrition food. Based on the D‐galactose‐induced aging mice model, the anti‐aging effect of fish oil abundant in n−3 and n−6 PUFA, docosahexenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA) were investigated while vitamin E was considered as the positive control. The state of in vivo redox and oxidative stress was evaluated in low, moderate and high dose groups for each sample after 8‐week oral gavage administration. Results indicated that (i) the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was improved by 5%–50% in liver and 20%–60% in heart via the effect of both fish oil and PUFA monomers while the SOD activity could also be increased by 30% in brain via the effect of fish oil only (P<0.05); (ii) the 8‐isoprostane (8‐iso‐PGF2) level in plasma was reduced by 20%–80% (P<0.05); (iii) the malonaldehyde (MDA) level and the monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity in brain were reduced by 16%–60% and 50%–90%, respectively (P<0.05); and (iv) the catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px) activities in liver and serum were both significantly improved in some of groups. Further study showed that the anti‐aging effect of fish oil is superior to the effect of PUFA monomers. The n−6 PUFA induced nutritional response in various tissues was more sensitive than n−3 PUFA induced response. The anti‐aging effect of PUFA should be comprehensively considered by both own positive functionality and negative non‐safety of peroxidation products. Overall, marine fish oil and PUFA exert their anti‐aging effect via regulating in vivo redox state and oxidative stress level.Support or Funding InformationNational Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 31201307)