Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids ameliorate the severity of ileitis in the senescence accelerated mice (SAM)P1/Yit mice model

Abstract

Summary Clinical studies using omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3-PUFA) to Crohn's disease (CD) are conflicting. Beneficial effects of dietary ω3-PUFA intake in various experimental inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) models have been reported. However, animal models of large intestinal inflammation have been used in all previous studies, and the effect of ω3 fat in an animal model of small intestinal inflammation has not been reported. We hypothesized that the effects of ω3 fat are different between large and small intestine. The aim of this study was to determine whether the direct effect of ω3 fat is beneficial for small intestinal inflammation. Senescence accelerated mice (SAM)P1/Yit mice showed remarkable inflammation of the terminal ileum spontaneously. The numbers of F4/80-positive monocyte–macrophage cells as well as β7-integrin-positive lymphocytes in the intestinal mucosa were increased significantly compared with those in the control mice (AKR-J mice). The area of mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1)-positive vessels was also increased. The degree of expression levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), interleukin (IL)-6 and interferon (IFN)-γ mRNA were increased significantly compared with those in the control mice. The feeding of two different kinds of ω3 fat (fish-oil-rich and perilla-oil-rich diets) for 16 weeks to SAMP1/Yit mice ameliorated inflammation of the terminal ileum significantly. In both the ω3-fat-rich diet groups, enhanced infiltration of F4/80-positive monocytes/macrophages in intestinal mucosa of SAMP1/Yit mice cells and the increased levels of MCP-1, IL-6 and IFN-γ mRNA expression were ameliorated significantly compared with those in the control diet group. The results suggest that ω3 fat is beneficial for small intestinal inflammation by inhibition of monocyte recruitment to inflamed intestinal mucosa.