The metabolic dysfunction of white adipose tissue induced in mice by a high-fat diet is abrogated by co-administration of docosahexaenoic acid and hydroxytyrosol.

Abstract

Nutritional interventions are promising tools for the prevention of obesity. The n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 LCPUFA) docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) modulates immune and metabolic responses while the antioxidant hydroxytyrosol (HT) prevents oxidative stress (OS) in white adipose tissue (WAT). The DHA plus HT combined protocol prevents WAT alterations induced by a high-fat diet in mice. Main related mechanisms. Male C57BL/6J mice were fed a control diet (CD; 10% fat, 20% protein, and 70% carbohydrates) or a high fat diet (HFD) (60% fat, 20% protein, and 20% carbohydrates) for 12 weeks, without and with supplementation of DHA (50 mg kg-1 day-1), HT (5 mg kg-1 day-1) or both. Measurements of WAT metabolism include morphological parameters, DHA content in phospholipids (gas chromatography), lipogenesis, OS and inflammation markers, mitochondrial activity and gene expression of transcription factors SREBP-1c, PPAR-γ, NF-κB (p65) and Nrf2 (quantitative polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). The combined DHA and HT intervention attenuated obesity development, suppressing the HFD-induced inflammatory and lipogenic signals, increasing antioxidant defenses, and maintaining the phospholipid LCPUFA n-3 content and mitochondrial function in WAT. At the systemic level, the combined intervention also improved the regulation of glucose and adipokine homeostasis. The combined DHA and HT protocol appears to be an important nutritional strategy for the treatment of metabolic diseases, with abrogation of obesity-driven metabolic inflammation and recovery of a small-healthy adipocyte phenotype.