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The effects of dietary N‐3 and antioxidant supplementation on erythrocyte membrane fatty acid composition and fluidity in exercising horses
Author(s) -
PORTIER K.,
MOFFARTS B.,
FELLMAN N.,
KIRSCHVINK N.,
MOTTA C.,
LETELLIER C.,
RUELLAND A.,
ERCK E.,
LEKEUX P.,
COUDERT J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.1111/j.2042-3306.2006.tb05553.x
Subject(s) - antioxidant , membrane fluidity , erythrocyte membrane , composition (language) , food science , chemistry , fatty acid , biochemistry , zoology , biology , membrane , philosophy , linguistics
Summary Reasons for performing study: Fatty acid supplementation could modulate erythrocyte membrane fluidity in horses at rest and during exercise, but information is lacking on the effect of exercise. Objectives: To assess the effect of exercise with, and without, an oral antioxidant supplementation enriched with n‐3 fatty acids on erythrocyte membrane fluidity (EMF) and fatty acid composition in eventing horses. Methods: Twelve healthy and regularly trained horses were divided randomly into 2 groups: group S received an oral antioxidant cocktail enriched in n‐3 fatty acid (alphatocopherol, eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] and docosahexaenoic acid [DHA]) whereas group P was placebo‐treated. At the end of 4 weeks, all horses performed a standardised exercise test (ET) under field conditions. Venous blood was sampled before starting treatment (T0), immediately before (T1) as well as 15 min (T2) and 24 h (T3) after ET. Spin labelled (16‐DOXYL‐stearic acid) red blood cell membranes were characterised using the relaxation correlation time (Tc in inverse proportion to EMF). Fatty acid composition (%) of the membrane was determined by gas‐liquid chromatography. Results: Supplementation did not induce changes in EMF (T1 vs. T0) but significant changes in membrane composition were observed and there were increases in n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acid PUFA, n‐3/n‐6 ratio, and total n‐3 fatty acids. Exercise (T2 vs. T1) induced a significant decrease of EMF in group P (Tc: +19%, P<0.05) and nonsignificant decrease in group S (Tc: +5%), whereas membrane fatty acid composition did not change in either group. During the recovery period (T3 vs. T2), EMF decreased significantly in group S (Tc: +29%, P<0.05) and nonsignificantly in group P (Tc: +18%) without any significant changes in fatty acid composition. Conclusion and potential relevance: An enriched oral antioxidant supplementation induced changes in membrane composition, which modulated the decrease in EMF induced by exercise. Long chain n‐3 fatty acid supplementation might therefore be beneficial.