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Dietary Butter Protects against Ultraviolet Radiation-Induced Suppression of Contact Hypersensitivity in Skh:HR-1 Hairless Mice^1,2,

Ranald B. Cope^*, Meira Bosnic^*, Christa Boehm-Wilcox^*, Detlef Mohr and Vivienne E. Reeve^*,3

^* Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006 The Heart Research Institute Ltd., Camperdown, New South Wales 2006, Australia

Dietary fats modulate a wide variety of T cell functions in mice and humans. This study examined the effects of four different dietary fats, predominantly polyunsaturated sunflower oil, margarine, and predominantly saturated butter, clarified butter, on the T cell-mediated, systemic suppression of contact hypersensitivity by ultraviolet radiation in the Skh:HR-1 hairless mouse. Diets containing either 200 g/kg or 50 g/kg butter or clarified butter as the sole fat source protected against systemic photoimmunosuppression, whether the radiation source was unfiltered ultraviolet B (280–320 nm) or filtered solar simulated ultraviolet radiation (290– 400 nm), in comparison with diets containing either 200 or 50 g/kg margarine or sunflower oil. There was a linear relationship (r > 0.9) between protection against photo-immunosuppression and the proportion of clarified butter in mice fed a series of 200 g/kg mixed fat diets that provided varying proportions of clarified butter and sunflower oil. The dietary fats did not modulate the contact hypersensitivity reaction in unirradiated animals. The observed phenomena were not primarily due to the carotene, tocopherol, cholecalciferol, retinol, lipid hydroperoxide or the nonfat solid content of the dietary fats used and appeared to be a result of the different fatty acid composition of the fats.

KEY WORDS: • ultraviolet rays • contact hypersensitivity • dietary fat • immunosuppression • hairless mouse

¹ Supported by a grant from the Dairy Research and Development Corporation of Australia, Glen Iris, VIC.

² The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

³ To whom reprint requests should be addressed.

Manuscript received 2 February 1995. Revision accepted 6 November 1995.