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Dendritic cell activation, phagocytosis and CD 69 expression on cognate T cells are suppressed by n‐3 long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids
Author(s) -
Teague Heather,
Rockett Benjamin Drew,
Harris Mitchel,
Brown David A.,
Shaikh Saame Raza
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.297
H-Index - 133
eISSN - 1365-2567
pISSN - 0019-2805
DOI - 10.1111/imm.12088
Subject(s) - docosahexaenoic acid , fish oil , eicosapentaenoic acid , polyunsaturated fatty acid , biology , t cell , fatty acid , chemistry , endocrinology , immune system , immunology , medicine , biochemistry , fishery , fish <actinopterygii>
Docosahexaenoic acid ( DHA ) and eicosapentaenoic acid ( EPA ) are bioactive n‐3 long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids ( LCPUFA s) in fish oil that exert immunosuppressive effects. A significant amount of literature shows that n‐3 LCPUFA s suppress dendritic cell ( DC ) function in vitro ; however, few studies have determined if the effects are emulated at the animal level. In this study, we first focused on the functional consequences of 5% (weight/weight) fish oil on splenic CD 11c + DC s. Administration of n‐3 LCPUFA s, modelling human pharmacological intake (2% of total kcal from EPA ,1·3% from DHA ), to C57 BL /6 mice for 3 weeks reduced DC surface expression of CD 80 by 14% and tumour necrosis factor‐α secretion by 29% upon lipopolysaccharide stimulation relative to a control diet. The n‐3 LCPUFA s also significantly decreased CD 11c + surface expression and phagocytosis by 12% compared with the control diet. Antigen presentation studies revealed a 22% decrease in CD 69 surface expression on transgenic CD 4 + T lymphocytes activated by DC s from mice fed fish oil. We then determined if the functional changes were mechanistically associated with changes in lipid microdomain clustering or plasma membrane microviscosity with n‐3 LCPUFA s, as reported for B and T lymphocytes. Fish oil administration to mice did not influence cholera‐toxin induced lipid microdomain clustering or microviscosity, even though EPA and DHA levels were significantly elevated relative to the control diet. Overall, our data show that n‐3 LCPUFA s exert immunosuppressive effects on DC s, validating in vitro studies. The results also show that DC microdomain clustering and microviscosity were not changed by the n‐3 LCPUFA intervention used in this study.