Supplementation of linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) or α-linolenic acid (C18:3n-3) changes microbial agonist-induced oxylipid biosynthesis

Oxylipids are derived from polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in cellular membranes and the relative abundance or balance may contribute to disease pathogenesis. Previous studies documented unique oxylipid profiles from cows with either coliform or Streptococcus uberis mastitis, suggesting that lipid mediator biosynthesis may be dependent on the type of microbial-derived agonist. Changing the fatty acid content of peripheral blood leukocytes also may be critical to the relative expression of oxylipid profiles and the outcome of bacterial infection. No information is available in dairy cows describing how changing cellular PUFA content will modify oxylipids in the context of a microbial agonist challenge. Therefore, the hypothesis for the current study was that PUFA supplementation would change bovine leukocyte fatty acid content and respective oxylipid profiles from ex vivo microbial agonist-challenged leukocytes. Fatty acid content of leukocytes and plasma was quantified in (1) samples from cows not supplemented with PUFA, (2) cows supplemented with linoleic acid (LnA), and (3) cows supplemented with α-linolenic acid (ALA). Plasma oxylipids were assessed after S. uberis or lipopolysaccharide exposure and was compared with unstimulated oxylipid profiles. Fatty acid supplementation with ALA significantly increased ALA content of blood leukocytes and plasma relative to LnA. Fatty acid supplementation affected several S. uberis-induced oxylipids, but only S. uberis-induced 15-oxoETE was greater with ALA supplementation compared with LnA. Notably, only LPS-induced 5,6 LXA4 was altered with fatty acid supplementation, but no significant effect of LnA vs. ALA treatment was identified. Future studies are needed to understand how leukocyte activation and membrane PUFA availability collectively contribute to differential oxylipid profiles.