title: High dose of an n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid diet lowers activity of C57BL/6 mice.
abstract: n-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are increasingly consumed as food additives and supplements; however, the side effects of these fatty acids, especially at high doses, remain unclear. We previously discovered a high fat n-3 PUFA diet made of fish/flaxseed oils promoted significant weight gain in C57BL/6 mice, relative to a control, without changes in food consumption. Therefore, here we tested the effects of feeding mice high fat (HF) and low fat (LF) n-3 PUFA diets, relative to a purified control diet (CD), on locomotor activity using metabolic cages. Relative to CD, the HF n-3 PUFA diet, but not the LF n-3 PUFA diet, dramatically reduced ambulatory, rearing, and running wheel activities. Furthermore, the HF n-3 PUFA diet lowered the respiratory exchange ratio. The data suggest mixed fish/flaxseed oil diets at high doses could exert some negative side effects and likely have limited therapeutic applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, 600 Moye Blvd, Greenville, NC 27834, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin Drew
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Rockett
authors.forename: Mitchel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Saame
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Raza  Shaikh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3