linoleic-acid and Anorexia

Immune-induced cachetic response is an example of a biological opportunity to develop technologies that ensure improved performance in animal agriculture. We have estimated that reduced performance of immune stimulated animals, whether by exposure to conventional environments or through vaccination, results in more than U.S. $500 million in reduced productivity. Nontraditional methods to alleviate the adverse effects of the immune response provide an opportunity for those skilled in the art of vaccinology and immunology to develop new technologies and feeding practices. Too often, biologists are blinded by the limits of their disciplines and rarely venture to the fringe of their field to engage in collaborations that at first glance do not seem logical. The examples of CLA and antigastrointestinal peptides suggest that new opportunities await in ensuring that the cost of the immune response is minimized and that new approaches to animal agriculture await discovery.

Topics: Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Animals; Anorexia; Cholecystokinin; Drug Design; Linoleic Acid; Vaccination

A 32-year-old man was diagnosed with lymphoma and underwent Billroth's II operation because of upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Although the patient received fat regimen total parenteral nutrition (TPN), the patient developed typical skin rash of essential fatty acid deficiency after 2 weeks of starting TPN. The diagnosis was confirmed by biochemical and histological analyses. After increasing the lipid infusion, the rash was gradually improved with complete resolution after 19 days.

Topics: Adult; Anorexia; Biopsy; Diagnosis, Differential; Fat Emulsions, Intravenous; Fatty Acids, Essential; Humans; Linoleic Acid; Male; Parenteral Nutrition, Total; Skin

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) is an immunoregulatory cytokine that plays a major role in tumor-induced anorexia and weight loss. Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) are naturally occurring isomers of linoleic acid that, when added to the diet, improve food intake and body weight in mice injected with TNF. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a diet supplemented with 0.5% CLA on the nutritional status of rats implanted with the Morris 7777 hepatoma. Body weight, food intake, serum levels of insulin-like growth factor, and splenocyte synthesis of TNF were not different in tumor-bearing animals fed CLA versus the control diet. However, insulin levels were increased in both tumor-bearing and control animals given CLA. The 0.5% CLA did not improve the nutritional status nor alter TNF synthesis in hypophagic tumor-bearing rats. The biological significance of increased insulin levels in animals given CLA remains to be determined.

Topics: Analysis of Variance; Animals; Anorexia; Body Weight; Dietary Supplements; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Energy Intake; Insulin; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; Linoleic Acid; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental; Male; Mice; Nutritional Status; Rats; Rats, Inbred BUF; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Wasting Syndrome

To test for a regulatory defect in adipose triacylglycerol (essential) fatty acid mobilization in lymphoma-bearing mice, free [1-14C]linoleic acid/mouse serum albumin was injected iv into lymphoma-bearing and control mice, adapted to a reversed light cycle, and studied in three dietary states in the dark period. Mean daily food intake decreased in mice with small and large tumor burdens. Plasma free fatty acid (FFA) oxidation rates, which approximate FFA mobilization rates, were estimated by multicompartmental analysis (CONSAM). Oxidation of linoleate to CO2 was reduced significantly (85%) in ad libitum fed as compared to briefly fasted control mice but not in fed vs. fasted mice with large or small tumor burdens. However, plasma FFA oxidation rates to CO2 did not differ in briefly fasted tumor-bearing and pair-fed control mice. When re-fed a 250-mg test meal, briefly fasted mice with small tumors suppressed plasma free linoleic acid oxidation, as did controls. During simulated night, mildly anorexic, tumor-bearing mice with small tumor burdens mobilized essential fatty acids much faster than controls. This could explain body fat loss. The abnormally rapid rates of FFA (free linoleic acid) mobilization at night probably result from anorexia rather than from inability of food to suppress fat mobilization.

Topics: Animals; Anorexia; Appetite Depressants; Appetite Regulation; Body Burden; Disease Models, Animal; Fasting; Fatty Acids; Linoleic Acid; Linoleic Acids; Lipid Mobilization; Lymphoma; Male; Metabolic Clearance Rate; Mice; Neoplasms, Experimental; Peptides