Dietary Saturated Fatty Acids Modulate Pain Behaviour in Trauma-Induced Osteoarthritis in Rats

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative condition of joints, causing pain and swelling, and can be caused or worsened by trauma and obesity. The objectives of this study were to determine whether pain behaviour and progression of OA were increased in rats with trauma-induced OA fed dietary saturated fatty acids (SFA). Male Wistar rats were fed either a corn starch diet (C) or high-carbohydrate high-fat diet (H) with either 20% beef tallow or SFA (lauric (HLA), myristic (HMA), palmitic (HPA) or stearic (HSA) acids) for 16 weeks prior to and 8 weeks after excision of the medial meniscus of right knee joint to initiate OA when pain behaviour, glial activity, progression of knee OA, inflammatory mediators and signs of metabolic syndrome were assessed. Rats fed beef tallow, palmitic or stearic acids showed increased pain symptoms characterised by decreased hind paw/limb withdrawal thresholds and grip strengths and increased spinal astrogliosis and microgliosis compared to rats fed lauric or myristic acids. However, the severity of OA joint damage was unchanged by these dietary manipulations. We conclude that pain symptoms of trauma-induced OA in rats worsen with increased dietary beef tallow or palmitic or stearic acids, but improve with lauric or myristic acids, despite unchanged OA cartilage damage.

Changes in Fatty Acid Dietary Profile Affect the Brain–Gut Axis Functions of Healthy Young Adult Rats in a Sex-Dependent Manner

“…Differences regarding the time animals were fed on the different diets, or the methods used to perform the colonic distension, can contribute to the differences found across this and previous studies. On the other hand, although HFD has been shown to worsen pain induced by different pathologies such as postoperative pain [57] or arthrosis [58], we did not observe any differences between diets in the different somatic nociceptive tests. Thus, although differences can be found while using HFD or when previous pathologies are present, the relatively mild modifications in FAs composition of the current diets do not seem to be enough to alter the nociceptive thresholds (either visceral or somatic) with the experimental conditions used in this study.…”

Fatty Acids and Oxylipins in Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis—a Complex Field with Significant Potential for Future Treatments

“…The higher consumption of SFA or n-6 PUFA has been shown to be associated with synovitis, cartilage degradation, and progression of OA [ 24 , 25 ]. Regarding individual SFA, 12:0 and 14:0 can have protective influence on joints compared to 16:0 and 18:0, which increase cartilage destruction, subchondral bone changes, and pain perception in rodent models of OA [ 26 , 27 ]. Neither should all n-6 PUFA be considered detrimental [ 28 ].…”

Plasma Lipolysis and Changes in Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid Signaling Lipids Reveal Abnormal Lipid Metabolism in Chronic Migraine

“…Unesterified fatty acids are used for energy, and their levels increase in response to catecholamines, glucagon, or corticosteroids (Zhang and Ma, 2017). Dietary SAFAs worsen pain (Sekar et al, 2020). Higher unesterified plasma fatty acids may also link with insulin resistance proposed to be a part of migraine pathophysiology (Rao and Pearce, 1971;Perciaccante and Perciaccante, 2008).…”