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Programmed electrical stimulation in anesthetized marmoset monkeys was used to examine relative antiarrhythmic efficacies of dietary n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) from fish and plant oils. Diets contained 31% of energy (en%) as fat, comprising 15 en% saturated fat and 7 en% PUFAs, obtained by blending sheep fat with sunflower seed (SF/SSO) or fish oil (SF/FO) and a base diet. After 16-wk feeding, ventricular fibrillation (VF) was inducible in 6 of 10 animals on each diet under control conditions. The VF threshold (VFT) was significantly elevated in the SF/FO group (33.3 +/- 3.1 mA; n = 6) compared with the SF/SSO group (14.3 +/- 4.9 mA; n = 6). VFT, reduced during acute myocardial ischemia with 10 of 10 animals inducible per diet, remained significantly higher with SF/FO feeding. The SF/FO diet contained 3.8 en% as n-3 PUFAs, which was incorporated as 31% of myocardial membrane fatty acids. Dietary n-3 PUFA reduced vulnerability of normal or ischemic myocardium to arrhythmias in a nonhuman primate.

Dietary fish oil and sunflower seed oil increased the left ventricular ejection fraction in the marmoset monkey by enhancing ventricular filling, thus providing an energy sparing promotion of diastolic relaxation.

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