Cold-pressed flaxseed oil reverses age-associated depression in a primary cell-mediated adaptive immune response in the mouse

• Published in: British journal of nutrition 2006-02, Vol.95 (2), p.230-233
• Main Authors: Hillyer, L. M., Sandiford, A. M., Gray, C. E., Woodward, Bill
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological - immunology; Age; Age Factors; Ageing; Animal care; animal models; Animals; Antibodies; Antibody Formation - drug effects; Antibody Formation - immunology; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Cell-mediated immunity; Cold; Cold Temperature; depression; dietary fat; Erythrocytes - immunology; experimental diets; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids - analysis; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Females; Flaxseed oil; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geriatrics; Hypersensitivity; Hypersensitivity, Delayed - immunology; Immune response; Immunity, Cellular - drug effects; Immunity, Cellular - immunology; Immunocompetence - drug effects; Immunocompetence - immunology; linseed oil; Linseed Oil - therapeutic use; Male; Males; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mouse; nutritional intervention; Random Allocation; Safflower Oil - immunology; Safflower Oil - therapeutic use; senescence; Sheep; Short communication; Thymus gland; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Young adults
• ISSN: 0007-1145; 1475-2662
• DOI: 10.1079/BJN20051647

The objective of this investigation was to determine the influence of flaxseed oil on responses representative of primary humoral and cell-mediated adaptive immune competence in immunosenescent mice. Male and female C57BL/6J mice, 85 weeks old, were randomized between two complete purified diets differing only in oil source (cold-pressed safflower or flaxseed). After 8 weeks, humoral competence was assessed in six mice per group as the serum haemagglutinin titre to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and cell-mediated competence was assessed, in an additional six mice per group, as the delayed hypersensitivity response to SRBC. A zero-time control group (88 weeks old) and a young adult positive control group (12 weeks old) were each tested similarly (six per immune response), revealing age-related depression in both antibody and cell-mediated competence at 88 weeks of age. After the 8-week experimental period, the antibody response of the two test groups of geriatric mice remained below the young adult level (P=0·04) and the cell-mediated response of the saffloweroil group also continued to exhibit age-related depression (20% of young adult level, P=0·0002). By contrast, the anti-SRBC delayedhypersensitivity response of the flaxseed group no longer differed from the response of the young adults but exceeded that of the safflower and zero-time control senescent groups (P=0·0002). Depression in primary cell-mediated competence, the most outstanding aspect of immunosenescence, can be addressed by means of a dietary source of 18:3n-3 without longer-chain PUFA.