Open Access

ARTICLE

The effect of fish oil supplementation on cytokine production in children

Nachum Vaisman¹, Yahalomit Zaruk¹, Idit Shirazi¹, Nechemia Kaysar², Vivian Barak³

1 Unit of Clinical Nutrition (NV, YZ, IS), Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, 6 Weizmann Street, Tel-Aviv 64239, Israel
2 Unit of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (NK), Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
3 Immunology Laboratory for Tumor Diagnosis (VB), Oncology Department, Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, Jerusalem, Israel

* Corresponding Author: N. Vaisman,

European Cytokine Network 2005, 16(3), 194-198.

Accepted 08 July 2005;

Abstract

The ex vivo production of inflammatory cytokines during fish oil supplementation (n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, n-3 PUFA) is a matter of considerable controversy. Studies on human subjects have generally reported decreased lymphocyte proliferation and decreased production of IL-2, interferon-γ, IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α, but other studies showed no effect or even increased production. There are no published reports on ex vivo cytokine production in children on long-term, n-3 PUFA supplementation. The current double-blind study explored cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), with and without lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation in children on 12 weeks’ supplementation with 300 mg/day of n-3 PUFA. Twenty-one children (aged 8-12 years) were randomized to receive 1 g canola oil (control) or 300 mg n-3 PUFA + 700 mg canola oil in a chocolate spread. Blood was then drawn and PBMCs were separated and cultured for 24 h in a culture medium with or without 10 lg/mL LPS for 5 x 106 PBMCs. The pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6, and the anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-10 and IL-1RA, were evaluated by ELISA. The levels of all the cytokines were higher in non-stimulated and LPS-stimulated cultures, from n-3 PUFA-treated subjects as compared to controls. There was no difference in the IL-1b/IL-1RA ratio between the two groups, with and without LPS stimulation. Nevertheless, the ratio tended to be lower in the treated subjects on both occasions. In conclusion, our results indicate an increased production of both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, with and without LPS stimulation, in children on 12 weeks’ n-3 PUFA supplementation.

---

Keywords

---