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Article

Dietary Docosahexaenoic Acid-Enriched Phospholipids Normalize Urinary Melatonin Excretion in Adult (n-3) Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid-Deficient Rats^{1 ,2}

Monia Zaouali-Ajina, Abdallah Gharib^*, Georges Durand, Noureddine Gazzah^**, Bruno Claustrat, Claude Gharib and Nicole Sarda^*3

Laboratoire de Physiologie de l'Environnement, Faculté de Médecine Lyon Grange-Blanche, 69373 Lyon Cedex 08, France; ^* Laboratoire de Neuropharmacologie Moléculaire UFR Laënnec, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France; INRA Laboratoire de Nutrition et Sécurité Alimentaire, 78352 Jouy en Josas, France; ^** Ecole des Cadres et Techniciens de la Santé, Monastir, Tunisie; and Laboratoire de Radiopharmacie Radioanalyse, Hôpital Neuro-Cardiologique, 69003 Lyon, France

³To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Melatonin (MEL) plays an essential role in physiologic functions associated with darkness. We examined the effects of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-enriched phospholipids from pig brains (BPL) or hen eggs (EPL), as sources of DHA, on lipid FA composition of pineal membranes and daytime and nighttime concentrations of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6) in adult male control and (n-3)–deficient rats fed BPL and EPL diets for 5 wk. In two experiments, at 3 wk of age, rats were divided into subgroups and fed semipurified diets containing either peanut oil [(n-3)–deficient group] or peanut plus rapeseed oil (control group) and two dietary formulas containing either 3.5 g/100 g diet of BPL (Experiment 1) or 5.0 g/100 g diet of EPL (Experiment 2). BPL and EPL diets provided ~200 mg of DHA/100 g diet. During the daytime, aMT6 concentrations were not significantly different among groups. Conversely, the (n-3)–deficient rats had significantly lower nighttime aMT6 concentrations than the control rats. BPL and EPL did not affect urinary nighttime aMT6 concentration in the control group, whereas (n-3)–deficient + BPL or EPL groups exhibited significantly higher nighttime aMT6 concentrations than the (n-3)–deficient group (76 and 110%, respectively). The level of DHA was significantly higher in the pineal glands of control rats than in (n-3)–deficient rats. In rats fed EPL and BPL, the level of DHA reached a plateau, between 10 and 11 mg/100 mg total fatty acids in control + BPL or EPL and (n-3)–deficient + BPL or EPL groups. These findings suggest that new DHA-enriched formulas may be used as an efficient alternative source of (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids to normalize MEL secretion.

KEY WORDS: • melatonin • 6-sulfatoxymelatonin • DHA • phospholipids • pineal gland • rats

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