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Influence of Feeding Unsaturated Fats on Growth and Immune Status of Mice^1,2,

Alvin Berger³, J. Bruce German⁴, Bor-Luen Chiang^*, Aftab A. Ansari, Carl L. Keen^**, Mark P. Fletcher^* and M. Eric. Gershwin^*

Department of Food Science and Technology ^* Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Department of Pathology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322 ^** Department of Nutrition, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616

Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids alter the lipid composition and immune systems of mice. To date, most studies have been of short duration and focused on a particular immunologic assay. Adult female mice were therefore fed diets rich in 18:1(n-9) (olive oil), 18:2(n-6) (safflower oil), 18:3(n-3) (linseed oil) or 20:5(n-3) and 22:6(n-3) (fish oil-safflower oil, 9:1, wt/wt), for a 5-mo period, encompassing two breeding cycles. Offspring from the second breeding cycle were then fed these diets for 42 d, and a spectrum of immune functions was assessed. Dietary fat had a small effect on gestational weight gain and total and relative organ weights of the offspring. The relative amounts of splenic Ly-2 and receptor-expressing T cells were proportional to the concentration of 18:2(n-6), and inversely proportional to the concentration of long chain (n-3) polyenes in the diet. In contrast, Ly-1, immunoglobulin M, GM1+, and Ly-1 B suppressor inducer cells were not significantly affected by dietary fat. Splenic natural killer cell and lymphokine activated killer cell activities were attenuated by (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids, in contrast to superoxide production of stimulated macrophages which was increased. Those immune functions that were sensitive to dietary fat modulation will be the focus of continued research.

KEY WORDS: • fatty acids • mice • fish oil • growth rate • immune system

¹ Presented in part at the 75th Annual Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, April 21–25, 1991, Atlanta, GA [German, J. B., Berger, A., Keen, C., Ansari, A. & Gershwin, M. E. (1991) Effect of unsaturated fat diets on growth, composition and immune ontogeny of mice. FASEB J. 5: A1129 (abs.)].

² Research funded by an ILSI Nutrition Foundation Award to J.B.G., a University of California at Davis Clinical Nutrition Research Unit grant and NIH grant no. CA 20816. A. B. is a recipient of a USDA Human Nutrition Fellowship.

³ Current address: 3900 Reservoir Road NW, Georgetown University Medical Center, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Washington, DC 20007-2197.

⁴ To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 25 June 1992. Revision accepted 23 September 1992.

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