Peripheral blood mononuclear cell fatty acid composition and inflammatory mediator production in adult Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Crohn's disease (CD) is associated with nutritional deficiencies, altered plasma concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and an anti-inflammatory response to fish oil that contains n-3 PUFA. This suggests that, in CD, immune cells may have altered n-3 PUFA composition with functional consequences. The aim of this study is to investigate n-3 and n-6 PUFA composition and synthetic function of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in the basal state.
METHODS: A case control study of 52 adult CD patients and healthy, age- and sex-matched controls. Composition of PBMC and plasma phospholipids were measured by gas chromatography and production of tumour necrosis factor-alpha, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) by PBMC were measured by ELISA.
RESULTS: CD was associated with higher concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid and other n-3 PUFA, and lower arachidonic acid (AA) (n-6 PUFA) in PBMC. This was not explained by differences in dietary fat intake. Lower rates of production of PGE2 and IFN-gamma by PBMC were noted in quiescent and active CD, respectively, compared to controls.
CONCLUSIONS: CD is associated with a greater availability, and not a deficiency, of n-3 PUFA in PBMC, but lower concentrations of AA, and lower rates of production of PGE2 and IFN-gamma, compared to healthy controls. Copyright 2003 Elsevier Ltd.