The influence of the lipid composition of the feed given to mice on the immunocompetence and tumour resistance of the progeny.

In inbred CBA mice, the immunocompetence of adult progeny from breeding pairs fed three different diets was compared. Substitution of soy oil for animal fat in the feed of the mice during gestation or lactation significantly decreased the PFC response to SRBC in the adult offspring. Addition of 2-methoxy-substituted glycerol ethers to the feed of mothers deprived of animal fat during lactation partly restored the PFC response of the male offspring. In the adult mice fed differently pre- and perinatally the resistance to a transplanted syngeneic sarcoma was similar. The growth of offspring from mice fed the three diets was similar. In mice deprived of animal fat at weaning and for the following 21 days the immune reactivity to SRBC, tested about 3 months after stopping the diet, was not influenced. However, the resistance to a transplanted tumour in similarly fed mice was increased and this resistance was brought approximately to the control level by methoxy-substituted glycerol ethers.