J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 93(11): 1367-1371, 1992

---

Original article

BLOOD LEUKOTRIENE B₄ RESPONSE TO ENDOTOXIN IN FISH OLD FED RATS

Six-week-old male Wistar rats were given a low fat diet containing 15% cod liver oil（FO; n＝30）or 15% saflower oil（SO; n＝30）for 6 weeks. In the polymorphonuclear leukocytes, arachidonic acid（AA）was significantly lower in the FO group than in the SO group（p＜0.001）, and eicosapentaenoic acid（EPA）in the FO group was present in large amounts showing the EPA/AA ratio of 1.76. When lipopolysaccharide（LPS; 10mg/kg）was intraperitoneally injected, white blood cell counts in the blood significantly decreased in both groups（p＜0.001）compared to the controls 2 hours later, and at 4 hours, the counts in the SO group（2,033±151/mm³）were lower than in the FO group（3,189±624/mm³）,（p＜0.01）. In both groups, leukotriene B₄（LTB₄）in the whole blood increased at 4 hours following LPS-administration compared to the controls（1,219±167.3pg/ml in the SO group and 600.0±109.0pg/ml in the FO group, p＜0.001）. It should be noted that the level of LTB₄ in the SO group was significantly higher than in the FO group（p＜0.001）. Changes of the metabolites including decreased LTB₄ production in the arachidonic cascade related to the increase of EPA may play a role in the inhibition of the decrease in white blood cell counts.

---

---

To read the PDF file you will need Adobe Reader installed on your computer.