QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Thomas, I. K. Articles by Erickson, K. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Thomas, I. K. Articles by Erickson, K. L.

Dietary Fatty Acid Modulation of Murine T-Cell Responses in Vivo¹

Department of Human Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616

The effect of dietary fat concentration and saturation on T-cell functions in vivo were investigated by using delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) and graft-versus-host (GVH) reactions. These were selected because they circumvent the problem of fatty acid flux from the lymphocyte during in vitro assays. The DTH reaction to allogeneic line B16-BL6 melanoma cells was suppressed in BALB/c mice fed a diet containing 20% saturated fat (coconut oil) or polyunsaturated fat (safflower oil) compared to control mice fed a diet with the minimum of essential fatty acids (EFA). Likewise, DTH responsiveness of mice fed an EFA-deficient diet was less than that of mice fed the EFA control diet. The GVH reaction of C57BL/6 spleen cells injected into irradiated BALB/c mice was suppressed in those fed 20% polyunsaturated fat. Serum levels of linoleic acid increased commensurate with the levels of polyunsaturated fat in the diet. Likewise, previous work has demonstrated that levels of linoleic acid in whole lymphocytes changed in direct relation to the levels of fatty acids in serum and the diet. Thus, T-cell functions in vivo may be differentially affected by the degree of saturation or the concentration of dietary fat. Moreover, linoleic acid appears to play a pivotal role in modulating cellular immune responses.

KEY WORDS: • dietary fat T-cell responses • fatty acids

¹ Supported in part by Public Health Service grant CA 30273 awarded by the National Cancer Institute, and a grant from the National Live Stock and Meat Board, Chicago, IL.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Manuscript received 14 January 1985. Revision accepted 18 July 1985.