Omega-3 fatty acids alleviate chemically induced acute hepatitis by suppression of cytokines
✍ Scribed by Christoph Schmöcker; Karsten H. Weylandt; Lena Kahlke; Jingdong Wang; Hartmut Lobeck; Gisa Tiegs; Thomas Berg; Jing X. Kang
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 420 KB
- Volume
- 45
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0270-9139
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✦ Synopsis
Cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-␣) are key factors in liver inflammation. Supplementation with essential omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) has been demonstrated to lower TNF-␣ and IL-1 production in mononuclear cells. An inflammationdampening effect has been observed with increased omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in several inflammatory diseases. In this study, we used the transgenic fat-1 mouse, expressing a Caenorhabditis elegans desaturase endogenously forming n-3 PUFA from n-6 PUFA, to analyze the effect of an increased n-3 PUFA tissue status in the macrophage-dependent acute D-galactosamine/lipopolysaccaride (D-GalN/LPS) hepatitis model. We show less severe inflammatory liver injury in fat-1 mice with a balanced n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio as evidenced by reduced serum alanine aminotransferase levels and less severe histological liver damage. This decreased inflammatory response was associated with decreased plasma TNF-␣ levels and with reduced hepatic gene expression of TNF-␣, IL-1, IFN-␥ and IL-6 in fat-1 mice, leading to a decreased rate of apoptosis in livers from fat-1 animals, as measured by DAPIstaining. Conclusion: The results of this study offer evidence for an inflammation dampening effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the context of liver inflammation.