Docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n‐3) Ameliorated the Onset and Severity of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in Mice. Issue 1 (14th February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Adkins, Yuriko; Soulika, Athena M.; Mackey, Bruce; Kelley, Darshan S.
• Is Part Of: Lipids. Volume 54:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 13
• Page End: 23
• Publication Date: 2019-02-14
• Subjects: Brain -- DHA -- EAE -- Multiple sclerosis -- n‐3 PUFA -- n‐6 PUFA -- Spinal cord; Lipids -- Periodicals; Lipids -- Periodicals; Lipiden; Lipides -- Périodiques; 547.77
• DOI: 10.1002/lipd.12130
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0024-4201

Abstract

Abstract: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurologic autoimmune disease, which is the leading cause of nontraumatic neurologic disability in young adults in United States and Europe. n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are reported to mitigate severity of this disease. Recent studies suggest that phospholipid (PL) form of dietary n‐3 PUFA may lead to their higher tissue accretion than triacylglycerol (TAG) form. We compared efficacy of PL‐docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n‐3) (DHA) and TAG‐DHA on onset and severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in a mouse model of MS. Female mice were fed low alpha‐linolenic acid (18:3n‐3) (ALA) diet (control) for 2 weeks and then fed either control, 0.3%, or 1.0% DHA (PL or TAG) for 4 weeks pre‐EAE induction and 4 weeks post‐EAE induction. The brain and spinal cord n‐6:n‐3 ratio was significantly lower in all mice fed DHA compared to control. EAE onset was delayed in mice fed both DHA forms and concentrations, except for 1% TAG‐DHA. The inverse association between the EAE score and the brain DHA concentration was nonsignificant at the end of the study ( p = 0.08). Daily EAE scores of mice fed different DHA diets did not differ from control, however, the score of all DHA groups combined during days 9–16 was lower ( p = 0.028) compared to the control. During days 17–22, the EAE score trended lower in 0.3% TAG‐DHA and during days 23–28, the EAE score trended lower in both PL‐DHA groups than those in all other groups. These findings suggest that TAG‐DHA may be more effective than PL‐DHA in the early phases of EAE, and in the final outcome, PL‐DHA may be more effective than TAG‐DHA.