Omega 3 fatty acids and liver inflammation

[Guest guest]

Hepatology. 2007 Mar 28;45(4):864-869

Omega-3 fatty acids alleviate chemically induced acute hepatitis by

suppression of cytokines.

Schmocker C, Weylandt KH, Kahlke L, Wang J, Lobeck H, Tiegs G, Berg

T, Kang JX

Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard

Medical School, Boston, MA.

Cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) are key

factors in liver inflammation. Supplementation with essential omega-3

polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) has been demonstrated to lower

TNF-alpha and IL-1 production in mononuclear cells. An inflammation-

dampening 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-alpha levels and with reduced hepatic gene

expression of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IFN-gamma and IL-6 in fat-1 mice,

leading to a decreased rate of apoptosis in livers from fat-1

animals, as measured by DAPI-staining. 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. (HEPATOLOGY 2007;45:864-869.). PMID: 17393517.