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Potential of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Assessing the Effect of Fatty Acids on Inflammatory Bowel Disease in an Animal Model

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Lipids

Abstract

People with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at risk for developing colorectal cancer, and this risk increases at a rate of 1% per year after 8–10 years of having the disease. Saturated and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been implicated in its causation. Conversely, ω-3 PUFAs may have the potential to confer therapeutic benefit. Since proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) combined with pattern recognition methods could be a valuable adjunct to histology, the objective of this study was to analyze the potential of 1H MRS in assessing the effect of dietary fatty acids on colonic inflammation. Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were administered one of the following dietary regimens for 2 weeks: low-fat corn oil (ω-6), high-fat corn oil (ω-6), high-fat flaxseed oil (ω-3) or high-fat beef tallow (saturated fatty acids). Half of the animals were fed 2% carrageenan to induce colonic inflammation similar to IBD. 1H MRS and histology were performed on ex vivo colonic samples, and the 1H MR spectra were analyzed using a statistical classification strategy (SCS). The histological and/or MRS studies revealed that different dietary fatty acids modulate colonic inflammation differently, with high-fat corn oil being the most inflammatory and high-fat flaxseed oil the least inflammatory. 1H MRS is capable of identifying the biochemical changes in the colonic tissue as a result of inflammation, and when combined with SCS, this technique accurately differentiated the inflamed colonic mucosa based on the severity of the inflammation. This indicates that MRS could serve as a valuable adjunct to histology in accurately assessing colonic inflammation. Our data also suggest that both the type and the amount of fatty acids in the diet are critical in modulating IBD.

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Abbreviations

FID:

Free induction decay

GA_ORS:

Genetic-algorithm-based optimal region selection

GC:

Gas chromatography

H&E:

Hematoxylin and eosin

HFB:

High-fat beef tallow

HFC:

High-fat corn oil

HFF:

High-fat flaxseed oil

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

HR MAS:

High-resolution magic angle spinning

IBD:

Inflammatory bowel disease

LDA:

Linear discriminant analysis

LFC:

Low-fat corn oil

LT:

Leukotriene

MRS:

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy

PAF:

Platelet activating factor

PBS/D2O:

Phosphate-buffered saline in deuterium oxide

PUFA:

Polyunsaturated fatty acids

SCS:

Statistical classification strategy

TSP:

3-Trimethylsilylpropionic acid-d4 sodium salt

Gamma:

γ

Omega:

ω

Proton:

1H

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Saro Bascaramurty, who was the key resource for tissue sectioning and staining for histological assessment. We thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for the strategic project grant to R.P. Bird, M. Eskin and T. Bezabeh.

Conflict of interest

There are no conflicts of interest to report.

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Author notes

  1. Sonal Varma

    Present address: Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Council Institute for Biodiagnostics, 435 Ellice Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R3B 1Y6, Canada

    Sonal Varma, Brion Dolenko, Omkar B. Ijare & Tedros Bezabeh

  2. Department of Human Nutritional Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Sonal Varma, Michael N. A. Eskin & Tedros Bezabeh

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada

    Ranjana Bird

  4. Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Jayadev Raju

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  1. Sonal Varma
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Correspondence to Tedros Bezabeh.

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Varma, S., Eskin, M.N.A., Bird, R. et al. Potential of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Assessing the Effect of Fatty Acids on Inflammatory Bowel Disease in an Animal Model. Lipids 45, 843–854 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-010-3455-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-010-3455-7

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