Dietary Fish Oil Increases Neutrophil Development And Recruitment To The Colon In Colitis-Prone Mice

Fish oil, containing n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, is generally considered to have anti-inflammatory and immune suppressing properties. We have previously shown that dietary fish oil rich in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) resulted in exacerbated colon inflammation and progression to adenocarcinomas in Helicobacter hepacticus infected colitis-prone mice. The objective of this study was to characterize the effect of dietary fish oil on colon inflammation and immune cell changes in the absence of infection in genetically colitis-prone mice. We employed immunohistochemistry and flow cytometric analysis to characterized inflammatory cell development and infiltration in the colon of mice fed either 6% menhaden oil (MO) or a soy-based control diet (CON). We observed increased neutrophil development in the bone marrow and spleen in MO compared to CON fed mice. Neutrophil percent in the colon increased from 1.6% in CON fed mice to 4.2% in MO fed mice. In addition, MO consumption altered the activation state and fun...