Fish‐meal diet enriched with omega‐3 PUFA and treatment of canine chronic enteropathies

Abstract

The effects of a fish-meal-and potato-protein-based diet enriched with omega-3 PUFA on intestinal inflammatory activity and expression of genes active in fatty acid (FA) uptake were tested in the duodenum of dogs with food responsive diarrhea (FRD; n ¼ 14) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; n ¼ 7). The clinical outcome was estimated by monitoring the canine IBD activity index (CIBDAI) before and after treatment. Dogs were treated with the diet alone (FRD) or the diet in combination with immunosuppressants (IBD). The duodenal mRNA levels of FA translocase, FA transport protein-1,-3,-4,-6, long chain acyl coenzyme synthetase-1,-4,-5,-6, liver-and intestinal-FA binding proteins, interleukin-1b (IL)-1b and -6, and tumor necrosis factor-a were measured by quantitative PCR. The CIBDAI significantly decreased after treatment in all dogs. The mRNA levels of target genes were associated both with disease phenotype and dietary treatment. Significantly different expression patterns were found for IL-1b, FA translocase, intestinal-FA binding protein, FA transport proteins-1,-3,-6, and long chain acyl coenzyme synthetase-5,-6. In conclusion, the mRNA levels of some of the genes involved in duodenal FA uptake may be altered by a fish-meal-and potato-protein-based diet enriched with omega-3 PUFA. This may be beneficial for the treatment of canine chronic enteropathies, particularly FRD.Practical applications: In this study, feeding dogs on a fish-meal-and potato-protein-based diet enriched with omega-3 PUFA resulted in marked suppression of intestinal inflammatory activity, mainly in the duodenum of dogs with food responsive diarrhea with a concomitant alteration of some of the genes involved in FA uptake. In IBD, however, a combination of diet and immunosuppressive drugs was required. The present study provides preliminary insights into the importance of the herein tested dietary composition for the treatment of canine chronic enteropathies, revealing that an omega-3 PUFA-enriched diet can be beneficial to the animal's health and wellbeing. Furthermore, our results serve as the basis for future investigations using different food ingredients and FA compositions to identify the optimal dietary mixture that could be equally effective for dietary prophylactic or therapeutic treatment of canine chronic enteropathies, or both.Keywords: Canine inflammatory bowel disease index activity / Fatty acid transporters / Intestinal bowel disease / Omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids

The effect of supplemental bioactive fatty acids on growth performance and immune function of milk-fed Holstein dairy calves during heat stress

“…Dietary fiber fractions (NDF and ADF) were analyzed according to Van Soest et al (23) . Medium chopped alfalfa hay (containing 16.6% crude protein, 46.3% neutral detergent fiber, and 1.72% ether extract, DM basis) was added to the starter feed (10% based on starter DM basis) at 21 days of age for all experimental groups. The starter diets were presented at 0900 after the refusals were weighed to compute the feed intake throughout the study.…”

Fish‐meal diet enriched with omega‐3 PUFA and treatment of canine chronic enteropathies

“…The use by food companies of genomic technologies, shows how these may appropriately define new roles for foods and/or food components for health and wellness, in either humans or pet food products. This is indeed demonstrated in their effective use by Ontsouka et al [2] in relation to canine chronic enteropathies.…”

“…While some questions remain unanswered, the results provide useful information to improve chronic enteropathies in dogs [2]. The results should readily extrapolate to other companion animals such as cats, to sports animals such as horses or to animals bred for the meat market, e.g.…”

“…However, molecular nutrition technologies (sometimes described as 'nutrigenomics' or just 'genomic technologies') are increasing our understanding of the mechanisms of various food components, way beyond classic concepts of tissue building and energy provision [1]. The molecular nutrition study by Ontsouka et al [2] expands the already known functions of omega-3 PUFA [3], to include the potential regulation of genes involved in duodenal fatty acid uptake.…”

Comparison of the systemic phospholipid profile in dogs diagnosed with idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease or food-responsive diarrhea before and after treatment

“…However, there is currently only very limited data suggesting that dietary supplementation with PUFAs yields a clinical benefit in humans with IBD [36,47,48]. In veterinary medicine, only two studies have investigated the effect of supplemental PUFAs in dogs diagnosed with CIE. Those studies indicate that adding PUFAs to the diet might modify cholesterol homeostasis [52] and also modulate the expression of genes affecting intestinal fatty acid uptake [53], both of which appear to be beneficial in dogs with CIE.…”