Nutrient Metabolism Repletion with (n-3) Fatty Acids Reverses Bone Structural Deficits in (n-3)–Deficient Rats1 Susan Reinwald, Yong Li, Toru Moriguchi*, Norman Salem, Jr.* and Bruce A. Watkins2 Center for Enhancing Foods to Protect Health, Lipid Chemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 and * Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20852 2To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: baw@purdue.edu. (n-3) PUFA deficiency and repletion effects on bone mechanical properties have not been examined. The primary research aim was to evaluate whether changes in the fatty acid composition of bone tissue compartments previously reported to influence bone formation rates would affect bone modeling and mechanical properties. In this investigation, three groups of rats were studied, second generation (n-3)-deficient, (n-3)-repleted, and a control (n-3)-adequate. The (n-3)–adequate diet contained -linolenic acid [LNA, 18:3(n-3), 2.6% of total fatty acids] and docosahexaenoic acid [DHA, 22:6(n-3), 1.3% of total fatty acids]. Fatty acid composition of the hindlimb tissues (bone and muscle) of chronically (n-3)–deficient rats revealed a marked increase in (n-6) PUFA [20:4(n-6), 22:4(n-6), and 22:5(n-6)] and a corresponding decrease in (n-3) PUFA [18:3(n-3), 20:5(n-3), 22:5(n-3) and 22:6(n-3)]. Measurement of bone mechanical properties (energy to peak load) of tibiae showed that (n-3) deficiency diminished structural integrity. Rats repleted with (n-3) fatty acids demonstrated accelerated bone modeling (cross-sectional geometry) and an improved second moment in tibiae compared with control (n-3)–adequate rats after 28 d of dietary treatment. This study showed that repletion with dietary (n-3) fatty acids restored the ratio of (n-6)/(n-3) PUFA in bone compartments and reversed compromised bone modeling in (n-3)–deficient rats. J. Nutr. 134:388-394, February 2004 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.