Effects of dietary supplementation with cod-liver oil on endothelium-dependent responses in porcine coronary arteries.

To study the effect of dietary supplementation with fish oil on endothelium-dependent responses, Yorkshire pigs were maintained on a normal diet or on a low (0.6 ml/kg/day) or a high (1.0 ml/kg/day) dose of cod-liver oil for 4 weeks. Endothelium-dependent responses were examined in vitro in rings of proximal left anterior descending coronary arteries taken from control and treated animals studied in parallel. Endothelium-dependent relaxations in response to bradykinin, serotonin, adenosine diphosphate, and thrombin were facilitated in arteries from treated but not in those from control animals, whereas the relaxations in response to A23187 were unaltered. The facilitated relaxations were not altered by indomethacin but significantly inhibited by methylene blue. Aggregating platelets from control and treated pigs induced comparable, facilitated endothelium-dependent relaxations in rings taken from treated pigs. The platelet-induced contractions were significantly reduced in rings with endothelium taken from treated pigs, and they were comparable in rings without endothelium in both groups. Aggregating platelets from control and treated pigs released comparable amounts of serotonin and thromboxane A2. Endothelium-dependent relaxations induced by arachidonic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid were unaltered, whereas transient endothelium-dependent contractions induced by arachidonic acid were significantly reduced by the treatment with cod-liver oil. Relaxations to sodium nitroprusside or isoproterenol,and contractions to potassium chloride or serotonin were not different in rings without endothelium from control or treated pigs. These results indicate that dietary supplementation with cod-liver oil facilitates endothelium-dependent relaxations and inhibits endothelium-dependent contractions in porcine coronary arteries.