Meeting Abstract

13.6  Friday, Jan. 4  Effects of Dietary n6 and n3 Fatty Acids on Zebrafish Total Body Composition POWELL, M/L*; D’ABRAMO, L/R; WATTS, S/A; The Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham; Mississippi State Univ.; The Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham mpowell@uab.edu

In 2003, the WHO identified diet and lifestyle as contributing factors to the growing epidemic of metabolic disease. High fat diets are often cited as a major contributing factor in the progression of these diseases; however, some fats may play a crucial role in reducing the incidences and/or severity of these diseases. In humans, n3 fatty acid components of lipids may slow the progression of some diseases, and conjugated n6 fatty acid components have been shown to increase lean body mass in mice. To achieve maximum health benefits of these fatty acids, an ideal dietary ratio of n6/n3 fatty acids has been suggested. Mice are used extensively to study aspects of human diet and corresponding disease, but zebrafish can serve as an effective, high throughput vertebrate model to study effects of diet on development and progression of many diseases. Using the first open formulation zebrafish diet, recently released by our lab for research applications, we incorporated known quantities of specific lipids for evaluation of weight gain and lipid content. Juvenile zebrafish (28 dpf) were fed identical isocaloric diets that differed only in the ratio of n6/n3 fatty acids (15/1, 3/1, 1/1) for 5 months. The final wet weight of fish fed the 15/1 (n6/n3) diet was significantly greater than that of fish fed the 1/1(n6/n3) diet. However, total percent lipid of female fish fed the 15/1(n6/n3) was significantly lower than that of female fish fed the 1/1(n6/n3) diet. These data suggest that zebrafish exhibit similar trends in body composition in response to dietary lipids as those reported for other vertebrate models and can be used as a model to further investigate the health benefits of these fatty acids. UAB NORC grant (P30DK056336).