title: Maternal diet during pregnancy has tissue-specific effects upon fetal fatty acid composition and alters fetal immune parameters.
abstract: Both animal and human studies demonstrate that the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content of plasma and/or tissue lipids is increased during pregnancy. We hypothesised that increasing the α-linolenic acid (ALA) or longer chain (n-3) PUFA content of the maternal diet during pregnancy influences fetal fatty acid composition and the fetal immune system. Pregnant rats were fed a low-fat (LF) soybean oil diet, or high-fat (HF) soybean, linseed, salmon or sunflower oil diets from conception to 20d gestation. The ALA-rich Linseed-HF diet resulted in an equivalent eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) status in fetal immune tissues and an equivalent DHA status in the fetal brain to that achieved with the Salmon-HF diet. An (n-3) rich maternal diet during pregnancy associated with the highest expression of CD3 (Salmon-HF) and CD8 (Linseed-HF and Salmon-HF) on fetal thymic CD3(+)CD8(+) cells. The Linseed-HF diet resulted in the highest proportion of CD161(+) cells within the fetal thymus, which correlated with the production of IL-4. These data indicate that dietary ALA supplementation may confer some of the benefits of LC (n-3) PUFA during pregnancy. This should be examined in suitably designed human studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, P.O. Box 226, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AP, United Kingdom. c.e.childs@reading.ac.uk
authors.forename: Caroline E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Childs
authors.forename: Tessa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Romijn
authors.forename: Uta
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Enke
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hoile
authors.forename: Philip C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Calder
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid; D015847:Interleukin-4; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid