Dietary arachidonic acid contributes to alleviation of peanut-induced allergy biomarkers in BALB/c, C57BL/6 and CD-1 mice.

OBJECTIVE

Despite its innumerable, invaluable and unique benefits to human development and welfare, consumption of the omega 6 polyunsaturated fatty acid, arachidonic acid (ARA) generates apprehension due to the association of its metabolites with allergy symptoms. Accordingly, it was deemed important to examine the impact of ARA supplementation on initiation and progress of peanut (PN)-induced allergy in mice of different MHC haplotypes.

METHODS

Cohorts of BALB/c, C57BL/6, and outbred CD-1 mice were maintained two weeks before experimentation and until the end of the experiment on mouse food supplemented with equal amounts of milk powder containing 3 or 0 mg ARA/day/mouse, and then exposed to inhalation of 0 or 100 μg/mouse PN flour molecules twice for 4 weeks. Following intraperitoneal administration of PN extract proteins, control and PN-sensitized mice were assayed for behavioral, serum, and lung tissue biomarkers of anaphylaxis.

RESULTS

Peanut exposure essentially elicited the production of serum IgA, IgG1 and IgG2a specific antibodies and lung tissue extract reactive oxygen species. Adjuvant-free PN inhalation, especially when associated with ARA supplementation, displayed a significant (P < 0.05) counteractive impact on PN-induced responses in inbred and outbred mice.

CONCLUSIONS

Dietary arachidonic acid contributes to alleviation or suppression of PN-induced allergy biomarkers in BALB/c, C57BL/6 and CD-1 mice.