Dietary fish oil supplementation alters liver gene expressions toprotect against LPS-induced liver injury in weanling piglets

摘要

Here, the potential mechanisms of the protective effects of fish oil againstLPS-induced liver injury in a piglet model were investigated by using RNAsequencing. Twenty-four piglets were used in a 2 × 2 factorial design, and themain factors included diet (5% corn oil or 5% fish oil) and immunologicalchallenge (LPS or saline, on d 19). All piglets were slaughtered at 4 h afterchallenge, and liver samples were collected. Fish oil improved liver morphologyand reduced TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 productions after LPS challenge. RNAsequencing analysis showed fish oil had significant effect on the expressions ofgenes involved in immune response during LPS-induced inflammation. Selected geneexpression changes were validated using quantitative RT-PCR. Fish oil reducedthe expressions of pro-inflammatory genes , , and ,and increased that of anti-inflammatory genes , , , and . Moreover, fish oil restored the expressions of somelipid metabolism-related genes, such as , , and ,which were only decreased in pigs fed a corn oil diet after LPS challenge. OurRNA sequencing reveals novel gene-nutrient interactions following fish oilsupplementation and evoked inflammation, which add to the current understandingof the benefits of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids against liver injury.