Elsevier

The Journal of Nutrition

Volume 137, Issue 9, September 2007, Pages 2049-2055
The Journal of Nutrition

Differential Tissue Dose Responses of (n-3) and (n-6) PUFA in Neonatal Piglets Fed Docosahexaenoate and Arachidonoate123

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Abstract

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) are commonly added to infant formula worldwide; however, dietary concentrations needed to obtain optimal tissue levels have not been established. Hence, we studied tissue responses in piglets fed various doses of DHA and ARA. Doses were 0, 1, 2, and 5 times those used in U.S. infant formulas and DHA/ARA in Diet 0, Diet 1, Diet 2, and Diet 5 were 0, 4.1/8.1, 8.1/16.2, and 20.3/40.6 mg/100 kJ formula, respectively. Supplementation of dietary DHA and ARA increased DHA in brain, retina, liver, adipose tissue, plasma, and erythrocyte by 1.1- to 25.8-fold of Diet 0 (P-trend < 0.01). Tissue ARA (1.1- to 6.0-fold of Diet 0) responded to dietary ARA in liver, adipose tissue, plasma, and erythrocytes (P-trend < 0.05); brain and retina ARA was, however, unresponsive to dietary DHA and ARA. Plasma and erythrocyte DHA were positively associated with DHA in neural (brain and retina) and visceral (liver and adipose) tissues (r2 = 0.11–0.56; P < 0.001–P = 0.042). Plasma and erythrocyte ARA did not correlate with neural ARA. Only plasma ARA was associated with liver ARA (r2 = 0.222; P = 0.02) and adipose ARA (r2 = 0.867; P < 0.001) and erythrocyte ARA correlated with adipose ARA (r2 = 0.470; P < 0.001). We conclude that dietary DHA supplementation affords an effective strategy for enhancing tissue DHA, ARA in visceral but not neural tissues is sensitive to dietary ARA, and erythrocyte and plasma DHA can be used as proxies for tissue DHA, although blood-borne ARA is not an indicator of neural ARA.

Abbreviations

ARA
arachidonic acid [20:4(n-6)]
DHA
docosahexaenoic acid [22:6(n-3)]
LA
linoleic acid [18:2(n-6)]
LCPUFA
long chain PUFA
LNA
linolenic acid [18:3(n-3)]
MUFA
monounsaturated fatty acid

Cited by (0)

1

Supported by Mead Johnson and Company, Evansville, IN.

2

Author disclosures: M.-C. Huang, no conflicts of interest; J. T. Brenna is a consultant and grantee of Mead Johnson and Company; A. C. Chao, no conflicts of interest; C. Tschanz, no conflicts of interest; D. A. Diersen-Schade is an employee of Mead Johnson and Company; and Hsin-Chia Hung, no conflicts of interest.