Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that dietary fish oil preparations have anti-inflammatory effects in humans and in experimental animals, but the individual components of fish oils that are responsible for their anti-inflammatory effects have not been documented. We therefore investigated in (NZB x NZW)F1 mice, a model for human systemic lupus erythematosus, the effects of diets containing ethyl esters of two purified n-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA-E) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA-E), a refined fish oil triglyceride (FO) which contained 55% n-3 fatty acids, and beef tallow (BT) which contains no n-3 fatty acids. The diets were initiated prior to the development of overt renal disease at age 22 weeks, and continued for 14 weeks. The extent of the renal disease was quantified by light microscopy and by proteinuria. Diets containing either 10 wt% FO, 10% EPA-E, or 6% or 10% DHA-E alleviated the severity of the renal disease, compared to the BT diet, whereas diets containing either 3% or 6% EPA-E or 3% DHA-E were less effective. Two diets containing approximately 3:1 mixtures of EPA-E and DHA-E alleviated the renal disease to a greater extent than expected for either of these fatty acids given singly. We believe that these experiments provide the first demonstration of anti-inflammatory effects of individual dietary n-3 fatty acids. The results also indicate that the anti-inflammatory effects of fish oils depend on synergistic effects of at least two n-3 fatty acids.
Highlights
Previous studies have demonstrated that dietary fish oil preparations have anti-inflammatory effects in humans and in experimental animals, but the individual components of fish oils that are responsible for their anti-inflammatory effects have not been documented
Since proteinuria developed in a majority of mice fed the beef tallow (BT) diet over the subsequent 13 weeks, reduction in the numbers of mice that developed proteinuria was considered as an index of alleviation of glomerulonephritis by several of the marine lipid diets
T h e second parameter that reflected the severity of the renal disease was the histopathology of the kidney, using histologic criteria generally accepted for assessing the severity of glomerulonephritis in systemic lupus erythematosus [10]
Summary
Previous studies have demonstrated that dietary fish oil preparations have anti-inflammatory effects in humans and in experimental animals, but the individual components of fish oils that are responsible for their anti-inflammatory effects have not been documented. Two diets containing approximately 3:l mixtures of EPA-E and DHA-E alleviated the renal disease to a greater extent than expected for either of these fatty acids given singly We believe that these experiments provide the first demonstration of anti-inflammatoryeffects of individual dietary n-3 fatty acids. In order to help clarify these issues, we have carried out a study of the effects of diets containing various quantities of purified n-3 fatty acids in the form of their ethyl esters, and have compared the effects of these diets to a diet containing a fish oil triglyceride preparation and to a diet containing beef tallow, which lacks n-3 fatty acids ( 5 ) The results of these studies demonstrate that either of two n-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), can individually alleviate the severity of autoimmune glomerulonephritis.
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