The potential interactions between polyunsaturated fatty acids and colonic inflammatory processes.
n-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are recognized as having an anti-inflammatory effect, which is initiated and propagated via a number of mechanisms involving the cells of the immune system. These include: eicosanoid profiles, membrane fluidity and lipid rafts, signal transduction, gene expression and antigen presentation. The wide-range of mechanisms of action of n-3 PUFAs offer a number of potential therapeutic tools with which to treat inflammatory diseases. In this review we discuss the molecular, animal model and clinical evidence for manipulation of the immune profile by n-3 PUFAs with respect to inflammatory bowel disease. In addition to providing a potential therapy for inflammatory bowel disease there is also recent evidence that abnormalities in fatty acid profiles, both in the plasma phospholipid membrane and in perinodal adipose tissue, may be a key component in the multi-factorial aetiology of inflammatory bowel disease. Such abnormalities are likely to be the result of a genetic susceptibility to the changing ratios of n-3 : n-6 fatty acids in the western diet. Evidence that the fatty acid components of perinodal adipose are fuelling the pro- or anti-inflammatory bias of the immune response is also reviewed.
Mills
S C
SC
Antigen Presentation Research Group, Imperial College London, UK.
Windsor
A C
AC
Knight
S C
SC
D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology
D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated