- Title
- Toxicity of oxidized fish oil in pregnancy: a dose-response study in rats
- Creator
- Satokar, Vidit V.; Vickers, Mark H.; Reynolds, Clare M.; Ponnampalam, Anna P.; Firth, Elwyn C.; Garg, Manohar L.; Bridge-Comer, Pania E.; Cutfield, Wayne S.; Albert, Benjamin B.
- Relation
- American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology Vol. 323, Issue 2, p. R244-R254
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00042.2022
- Publisher
- American Physiological Society
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Fish oil (FO) supplements are consumed during pregnancy to increase dietary omega-3. However, FO is often oxidized past recommended limits. In rats, a large dose of highly oxidized FO substantially increased newborn mortality, but the effects of human-relevant doses of less oxidized oil are unknown. A dose-response study in rats was conducted to estimate the safe level of oxidation during pregnancy. Sprague-Dawley rat dams were mated, then individually housed and provided with a gel treatment on each day of pregnancy. Treatment groups differed only in the FO content of the gel; control (no oil), PV5, PV10, and PV40 [0.05 mL of FO oxidized to a peroxide value (PV) of 5, 10, or 40 meq/kg], or PV40(1 mL) (1 mL of PV40). A subset of dams was culled on gestational day 20 to enable sampling, and the remainder were allowed to give birth. Newborn mortality was recorded. Offspring were sampled on postnatal days 2 and 21, and dams on day 21. There were no signs of unwellness during pregnancy. However, there was markedly increased neonatal mortality affecting the PV40(1 mL) (12.8%) and PV40 (6.3%) groups, but not the control, PV5, or PV10 groups (1%-1.4%). Dietary-oxidized FO altered the expression of placental genes involved in antioxidant pathways and the production of free radicals. Highly oxidized FO was toxic in rat pregnancy leading to a marked increase in mortality even at a human-relevant dose. We observed no toxic effects of FOs with PV ≤10 meq/kg, suggesting that this is an appropriate maximum limit.
- Subject
- fish oil; neonatal mortality; oxidation; pregnancy; toxicity
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1486492
- Identifier
- uon:51878
- Identifier
- ISSN: 0363-6119
- Language
- eng
- Reviewed
- Hits: 838
- Visitors: 835
- Downloads: 0
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format |
|---|