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Cold-pressed flaxseed oil reverses age-associated depression in a primary cell-mediated adaptive immune response in the mouse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2007

L. M. Hillyer ,
A. M. Sandiford ,
C. E. Gray  and
Bill Woodward
L. M. Hillyer
Affiliation:
Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
A. M. Sandiford
Affiliation:
Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
C. E. Gray
Affiliation:
Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
Bill Woodward*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
*
*Corresponding author: fax +1 519 763 5902 email [email protected]
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Abstract

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The objective of this investigation was to determine the influence of flaxseed oil on responses representative of primary humoral and cell-mediated adaptive immune competence in immunosenescent mice. Male and female C57BL/6J mice, 85 weeks old, were randomized between two complete purified diets differing only in oil source (cold-pressed safflower or flaxseed). After 8 weeks, humoral competence was assessed in six mice per group as the serum haemagglutinin titre to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and cell-mediated competence was assessed, in an additional six mice per group, as the delayed hypersensitivity response to SRBC. A zero-time control group (88 weeks old) and a young adult positive control group (12 weeks old) were each tested similarly (six per immune response), revealing age-related depression in both antibody and cell-mediated competence at 88 weeks of age. After the 8-week experimental period, the antibody response of the two test groups of geriatric mice remained below the young adult level (P=0·04) and the cell-mediated response of the saffloweroil group also continued to exhibit age-related depression (20% of young adult level, P=0·0002). By contrast, the anti-SRBC delayedhypersensitivity response of the flaxseed group no longer differed from the response of the young adults but exceeded that of the safflower and zero-time control senescent groups (P=0·0002). Depression in primary cell-mediated competence, the most outstanding aspect of immunosenescence, can be addressed by means of a dietary source of 18:3n-3 without longer-chain PUFA.

Keywords

AgeingCell-mediated immunityFlaxseed oilMouse
Type
Short communication
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 95 , Issue 2 , February 2006 , pp. 230 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2006

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