Influence of a diet rich in eicosapentaenoic acid on the development of rat paw oedema and on the formation of prostaglandins I2 and E2.

The influence of feeding a marine oil (MaxEPA) with a high content of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) to rats for 10 weeks on the development of carrageenin oedema was studied. Since prostaglandins (PGs) are involved in the development of this acute experimental inflammation, the influence of EPA feeding on PG release from aorta (PGI2) and from the subplantar skin of the inflamed foot (PGI2, PGE2) was investigated also. MaxEPA was fed in two daily doses containing 50 or 100 mg EPA/kg/day. In both rat groups there was no influence of EPA on the development of the oedema. However, the capacity of aorta and skin of the plantar region of the experimentally inflamed foot to release PGI2 was strongly reduced by EPA. On the other hand, the release of PGE2 from the skin was not reduced. Indomethacin at a low dose (2 mg/kg perorally) reduced the development of the paw oedema as well as the release of PGs in control rats and rats on an EPA-containing diet. It is concluded that EPA did not influence carrageenin oedema because there was an adequate production of the oedema promoting substance PGE2.