Dietary cod liver oil decreases arachidonic acid in rat gastric mucosa and increases stress-induced gastric erosions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of long-term feeding of dietary fat rich in either n-3 or n-6 fatty acids on the availability of arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) in major phospholipids of gastric mucosa in rats. Three groups of male Wistar rats were fed either a standard diet, a cod liver oil-enriched diet (10% by weight), or a corn oil-enriched diet (10% by weight) for 8 mon. Dietary cod liver oil significantly reduced the level of 20:4n-6 in phosphatidylcholine (PC) and in phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) of gastric mucosa. The loss of 20:4n-6 was compensated for by eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) in PC, whereas the decrease in 20:4n-6 in PE corresponded to the increase in three n-3 fatty acids: 20:5n-3, docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3), and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3). The level of 20:5n-3 was higher than the level of 22:6n-3 both in PC and PE of mucosa in rats fed cod liver oil. Diets supplemented with corn oil increased the level of 18:2n-6 but decreased the monoene fatty acids 16:1 and 18:1n-7 in PC but not in PE of gastric mucosa. The 20:4n-6 levels of both PC and PE were markedly reduced by dietary cod liver oil, to about one-third of control levels. Similar changes were also observed in the stomach wall. Gastric erosions were observed in all rats exposed to restriction stress, but this form of stress induced twice the number of erosions in rats fed fish oil compared to control rats or rats fed corn oil. We conclude that a diet rich in fish oil altered the balance between n-6 and n-3 fatty acids in major gastric mucosal phospholipids, markedly reduced the availability of 20:4n-6, and increased the incidence of gastric erosions induced by restriction or emotional stress.