Dietary Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Promote Neutrophil Accumulation in the Spleen by Altering Chemotaxis and Delaying Cell Death
Journal article, 2019

Neutrophils are the most abundant circulating leukocytes in humans and are essential for the defense against invading pathogens. Like many other cells of an organism, neutrophils can be highly influenced by the diet. We have previously described that mice fed a high-fat diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (HFD-P) present a higher frequency of neutrophils in bone marrow than mice fed a high-fat diet rich in saturated fatty acids (HFD-S). Interestingly, such an increase correlated with improved survival against bacterium-induced sepsis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of dietary polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids on neutrophil homeostasis. We found that HFD-P specifically induced the accumulation of neutrophils in the marginal pools of the spleen and liver. The accumulation of neutrophils in the spleen was a result of a dual effect of polyunsaturated fatty acids on neutrophil homeostasis. First, polyunsaturated fatty acids enhanced the recruitment of neutrophils from the circulation into the spleen via chemokine secretion. Second, they delayed neutrophil cell death in the spleen. Interestingly, these effects were not observed in mice fed a diet rich in saturated fatty acids, suggesting that the type of fat rather than the amount of fat mediates the alterations in neutrophil homeostasis. In conclusion, our results show that dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids have a strong modulatory effect on neutrophil homeostasis that may have future clinical applications.

polyunsaturated fatty acids

neutrophils

apoptosis

dietary fatty acids

chemotaxis

Author

Sara L. Svahn

University of Gothenburg

Saray Gutierrez

University of Gothenburg

Marcus A. Ulleryd

University of Gothenburg

Intawat Nookaew

Chalmers, Biology and Biological Engineering, Systems and Synthetic Biology

Veronica Osla

University of Gothenburg

Fredrik Beckman

University of Gothenburg

Staffan Nilsson

Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics

University of Gothenburg

Anna Karlsson

University of Gothenburg

John-Olov Jansson

University of Gothenburg

Maria E. Johansson

University of Gothenburg

Infection and Immunity

0019-9567 (ISSN) 1098-5522 (eISSN)

Vol. 87 8 e00270-19

Subject Categories

Cell and Molecular Biology

Immunology in the medical area

Nutrition and Dietetics

DOI

10.1128/IAI.00270-19

PubMed

31085706

More information

Latest update

5/11/2022