Effect of Lifelong Exposure to Dietary Plant and Marine Sources of n -3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids on Morphologic and Gene Expression Biomarkers of Intestinal Health in Early Life

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 16; no. 5; p. 719
• Main Authors: Acosta, Julianna E, Burns, Jessie L, Hillyer, Lyn M, Van, Kelsey, Brendel, Elaina B K, Law, Camille, Ma, David W L, Monk, Jennifer M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-03-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Animals; Biomarkers; Body fat; Chromatography; Chronic illnesses; Colon; crypt length; Defense; Diet; Disease; early life; Fatty Acids; Fatty Acids, Omega-3; Female; Fish Oils; Gene Expression; goblet cells; intestinal health; intestinal morphology; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Microbiota; Morphology; n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids; Permeability; Physiology; Pregnancy; RNA, Messenger; Safflower Oil; Small intestine; Vegetable oils; Canada; United States > US; flaxseed oil; intestinal health; goblet cells; intestinal morphology; crypt length; early life; fish oil; n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu16050719

Altered intestinal health is also associated with the incidence and severity of many chronic inflammatory conditions, which could be attenuated via dietary
-3 PUFA interventions. However, little is known about the effect of lifelong exposure to
-3 PUFA from plant and marine sources (beginning in utero via the maternal diet) on early life biomarkers of intestinal health. Harems of C57Bl/6 mice were randomly assigned to one of three isocaloric AIN-93G modified diets differing in their fat sources consisting of the following: (i) 10% safflower oil (SO, enriched in
-6 PUFA), (ii) 3% flaxseed oil + 7% safflower oil (FX, plant-based
-3 PUFA-enriched diet), or (iii) 3% menhaden fish oil + 7% safflower oil (MO, marine-based
-3 PUFA-enriched diet). Mothers remained on these diets throughout pregnancy and offspring (n = 14/diet) continued on the same parental diet until termination at 3 weeks of age. In ileum, villi:crypt length ratios were increased in both the FX and MO dietary groups compared to SO (
< 0.05). Ileum mRNA expression of critical intestinal health biomarkers was increased by both
-3 PUFA-enriched diets including
and
compared to SO (
< 0.05), whereas only the FX diet increased mRNA expression of
and
(
< 0.05) and only the MO diet increased mRNA expression of
(
< 0.05). In the proximal colon, both the FX and MO diets increased crypt lengths compared to SO (
< 0.05), whereas only the MO diet increased goblet cell numbers compared to SO (
< 0.05). Further, the MO diet increased proximal colon mRNA expression of
and
(
< 0.05) and both MO and FX increased mRNA expression of
compared to SO (
< 0.05). Collectively, these results demonstrate that lifelong exposure to dietary
-3 PUFA, beginning in utero, from both plant and marine sources, can support intestinal health development in early life. The differential effects between plant and marine sources warrants further investigation for optimizing health.