| A guinea pig model of dextran sulphate-induced colitis was developed to investigate nutritional strategies in improving gastrointestinal inflammation. The present study aimed to determine if a diet rich in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) improves clinical and physical symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and whether DHA alters inflammatory lipid mediator production, and subsequent systemic effects on the acute phase response (APR). DHA improved symptoms of IBD, including; fecal blood, diarrhea, lethargy, survival, and dietary intake. Feeding of DHA increased the percent of DHA in livers (1.2% vs 0.3%), tended to decrease inflammatory mediator production, but did not decrease intestinal damage or alter protein kinetics. These results demonstrate that DHA improves clinical and physical symptoms associated with IBD, possibly involving decreased lipid mediator production. The mechanism of action does not appear to involve a blunting of the APR nor decreases in intestinal damage. |
