Maternal nutritional supplementation with fish oil and/or leucine improves hepatic function and antioxidant defenses, and minimizes cachexia indexes in Walker-256 tumor-bearing rats offspring

Author(s)

da Silva Miyaguti, Natalia Angelo ^[1] ; Pereira de Oliveira, Sarah Christine ^[1] ; Cintra Gomes-Marcondes, Maria Cristina ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, UNICAMP, Lab Nutr & Canc, Dept Struct & Funct Biol, Biol Inst, Rua Monteiro Lobato 255, BR-13083862 Campinas, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Nutrition Research; v. 51, p. 29-39, MAR 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 2

Abstract

In this study, we hypothesized that throughout the pregnancy/weaning period, nutritional supplementation with leucine (which improves protein synthesis) and/or fish oil (rich in omega-3, which modulates oxidative stress) can minimize/improve cachexia-induced damage in rat offspring. Thus, we investigated the maternal supplementation with these nutrients over the modulation of cachexia index and liver function in tumor-bearing rats offspring. Pregnant rats were fed control, leucine, omega-3, and leucine/omega-3 diets, which were given throughout the gestational and weaning periods. The male offspring were subjected to a control diet until adulthood (120 days) and then distributed into 5 groups (n=4-6 per group): C, Control; W, tumor-bearing; WL, tumor-bearing group with a maternal leucine-rich diet; WO, tumor-bearing group with a maternal omega-3 diet; and WLO, tumor-bearing group with a maternal leucine-rich and omega-3 diet. The W group had a higher cachexia index (31.83 +/- 2.9%), but this parameter decreased in the WO (P=0.0380) and WLO groups (P=0.0187). In addition, the W group had a lower survival rate, and the WLO group exhibited a trend toward increased survival (P=0.0505). The hepatic function in maternal supplemented groups was preserved, while the W group exhibited an increased aspartate-aminotransferase/alanine-aminotransferase ratios (P=0.0152) and also enhanced liver oxidative stress, with higher alkaline phosphatase (P=0.0190) and superoxide dismutase (P=0.0190) activities, and trended toward to higher malondialdehyde content (P=0.0556). In contrast, the maternal supplemented groups had similar liver enzymes and malondialdehyde contents. Thus, we concluded that supplementing the maternal diet modulated/improved liver antioxidant responses and ameliorated the cachexia state in tumor-bearing rat offspring. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 17/02739-4 - Nutrition and cancer: study of molecular, proteomic and metabolomic aspects of experimental model of cachexia
• Grantee: Maria Cristina Cintra Gomes Marcondes
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 14/13334-7 - Nutrition and cancer: metabolomic, and proteomic profile of muscle, placental, fetal, and tumor cell signaling pathways in Walker-256 tumour-bearing pregnant rats submitted to leucine nutritional supplementation
• Grantee: Maria Cristina Cintra Gomes Marcondes
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 13/16115-1 - Biochemical and molecular mechanisms of cachexia. effects of Walker factor and leucine supplementation on myotube cell culture
• Grantee: Maria Cristina Cintra Gomes Marcondes
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 15/09371-7 - Modulatory effects of nutritional supplementation with leucine and polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acid on Walker tumour growth and influence in supplemented rats offspring
• Grantee: Sarah Christine Pereira de Oliveira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation