The Modulation of Obesity-associated Inflammatory Mediators and Skeletal Muscle Function by Dietary n-3 and n-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids: A Time-course Study

Diets high in saturated fatty acids (SFA) contribute to obesity and lead to functional changes in adipose tissue (AT)-immune cell populations, altered production and secretion of inflammatory adipokines and, ultimately, dysregulated AT and skeletal muscle metabolism. Evidence suggests that a high fat diet containing either long-chain n-6 or n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) can differentially modulate AT inflammatory adipokine secretion and improve insulin sensitivity in obese AT and skeletal muscle. Our findings suggest that dietary n-3 and n-6 PUFA alter AT inflammatory adipokines to different extents and in a time-dependent manner. Exposure of L6 myotubes to conditioned media generated from AT of rats fed different diets further modulated insulin signaling that was dependent on lipopolysaccharide stimulation and length of high fat diet consumption. Overall, this thesis suggests that dietary n-3 and n-6 PUFA can potentially improve AT and skeletal muscle metabolic function over time in an obese environment.