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

Abstract

Altered intestinal health is also associated with the incidence and severity of many chronic inflammatory conditions, which could be attenuated via dietary n-3 PUFA interventions. However, little is known about the effect of lifelong exposure to n-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 n-6 PUFA), (ii) 3% flaxseed oil + 7% safflower oil (FX, plant-based n-3 PUFA-enriched diet), or (iii) 3% menhaden fish oil + 7% safflower oil (MO, marine-based n-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 (p n-3 PUFA-enriched diets including Relmβ and REG3γ compared to SO (p TFF3 and Muc2 (p ZO-1 (p p p Relmβ and REG3γ (p Muc2 compared to SO (p n-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.

Keywords

• <i>n</i>-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
• early life
• intestinal morphology
• intestinal health
• crypt length
• goblet cells