Figure 8.

Fish oil supplementation decreases inflammation and osteoclast activation in malnourished mice following inflammatory challenge. Malnourished were mice fed with the standard nutrient deficient diet containing corn oil (MN) or with a nutrient deficient diet in which the corn oil was replaced by fish oil (MN-FO). Both groups of mice were challenged with LPS and the bone marrow isolated 24 hrs later. (A) Expression of interleukin-1β (Il1b), tumor necrosis factor (Tnf) and interleukin-6 (Il6) in bone marrow. Determined by qRT-PCR and expressed as the fold-change over unchallenged mice from the same group. (B) Percentage of inflammatory monocytes (CD11b+Ly6C^int/hi Ly6G-CD11c-) relative to total bone marrow cells determined by flow cytometry (gated as shown in Supplementary Figure 1E). (C) Expression of genes associated with osteoclastogenesis, Fos, Ctsk and Rankl, and ratio of the expression of Opg/Rankl in the bone marrow. (D) Percentage of area occupied by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase positive (TRAP+) in sternum cryosections image of a TRAP+ field in the bone marrow (pink area). (E) Percentage of area occupied by TRAP+ osteoclasts after 7 days of differentiation of bone marrow cells from LPS challenged mice, treated ex vivo with the omega-3 fatty acid Docosahexaenoic acid (MN-DHA) or vehicle (MN) and compared with those from well-nourished mice (WN). N=5 mice per group, 2 experiments. *p<0.05, **p<0.01.