Maternal dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids in the early development of the immune system

Objectives and Study: Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are important immune modulating elements. Prostaglandins and leukotrienes, which play an important role in the immune response, are derived from PUFAs. Furthermore, PUFAs can alter immune cell function via various mechanisms, including the activation of transcription factors. The development of the immune system occurs mostly perinatally and since most PUFAs are acquired from the diet, the maternal diet may influence fetal and neonatal PUFA status. The last decades there is a significant increase in the prevalence of allergic disorders which coincides with a marked change in dietary fatty acid intake. Therefore, we investigated the effect of maternal dietary omega-3 andomega-6 PUFAs on the development of the imuune system in the offspring. Methods: Pregnant and/or lactating BALB/c mice were fed diets varying in C18:3omega-3/C18:2omega-6 ratio. After weaning, pups were transferred to a Western-style diet and the effects of maternal PUFA-diet were examined using the ovalbumin-induced allergic asthma model. Results: Significant differences in the acute allergic skin response were observed between different diet groups and between different feeding periods; all PUFA-diets lowered the acute allergic skin response compared to control diet, but the high C18:3omega-3 diet was most effective when fed during lactation while the high C18:2omega-6 diet diminished the allergic skin response most when fed to pregnant dams. Conclusion: Both the maternal omega-3 and omega-6- PUFA-diets lowered the allergic skin response in the adult offspring, indicating a long lasting effect of the maternal diet. Because each diet has the strongest effect when given in a different feeding period, the mechanism by which these PUFAs lower the allergic response might also differ.