Dietary n-3 fatty acids promote arrhythmias during acute regional myocardial ischemia in isolated pig hearts

Objective Dietary supplementation with fish oil-derived n-3 fatty acids reduces mortality in patients with myocardial infarction, but may have adverse effects in angina patients. The underlying electrophysiologic mechanisms are poorly understood. We studied the arrhythmias and the electrophysiologic changes during regional ischemia in hearts from pigs fed a diet rich in fish oil. Methods Pigs received diets rich in fish oil, in sunflower oil, or a control diet for 8 weeks. Hearts were isolated and perfused. Ischemia was created by occluding the left anterior descending artery. Diastolic stimulation threshold, refractory period, conduction velocity, activation recovery intervals and the maximum downstroke velocity of 176 electrograms were measured in the ischemic zone. Spontaneous arrhythmias during 75 min of regional ischemia were counted. Results More episodes of spontaneous ischemia-induced sustained ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation occurred in the fish oil and sunflower oil group than in the control group. More inexcitable myocardium was present in the ischemic zone in the group fed fish oil or sunflower oil than in the control group after 20 min of ischemia. After 40 min of ischemia, more block occurred in the control group than in the other groups. The downstroke velocity of the electrograms in the ischemic border zone was lower in the fish oil group and sunflower oil group than in the control after 20 min. Conclusions A diet rich in fish oil results in proarrhythmia compared to a control diet during regional ischemia in pigs. Myocardial excitability is reduced in the fish oil and sunflower oil group during the early phase of arrhythmogenesis. In the late phase of arrhythmogenesis, excitability is more reduced in the control group than in the fish oil and sunflower oil group

Differences in fatty acid composition between cerebral brain lobes in juvenile pigs after fish oil feeding

Very long-chain n-3 PUFA from fish are suggested to play a role in the development of the brain. Fish oil feeding results in higher proportions of n-3 PUFA in the brains of newborn piglets. However, the effect of fish oil on the fatty acid composition of specific cerebral brain lobes in juvenile pigs is largely uninvestigated. This study examined the effect of a fish oil diet on the fatty acid composition of the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital brain lobes in juvenile pigs (7 weeks old). Pigs were randomly allocated to a semipurified pig diet containing either 4 % (w/w) fish oil (n 19) or 4 % (w/w) high-oleic acid sunflower oil (HOSF diet, n 18) for a period of 8 weeks. The fish oil diet resulted in significantly higher proportions (%) of DHA in the frontal (10·6 (sd1·2)), parietal (10·2 (sd1·5)) and occipital brain lobes (9·9 (sd 1·3)), but not in the temporal lobe (7·7 (sd1·6)), compared with pigs fed the HOSF diet (frontal lobe, 7·5 (sd1·0); parietal lobe, 8·1 (sd 1·3); occipital lobe, 7·3 (sd1·2), temporal lobe, 6·6 (sd1·2). Moreover, the proportion of DHA was significantly lower in the temporal lobe compared with the frontal, parietal and occipital brain lobes in pigs fed a fish oil diet. In conclusion, the brains of juvenile pigs appear to be responsive to dietary fish oil, although the temporal brain lobe is less responsive compared with the other three brain lobes. The functional consequences of these differences are a challenging focus for future investigation

The Changing Landscape for Stroke Prevention in AF Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Thrombosis and Hemostasi

Correction to: Is diet partly responsible for differences in COVID-19 death rates between and within countries? (Clinical and Translational Allergy, (2020), 10, 1, (16), 10.1186/s13601-020-00323-0)

Following publication of the original article [1], the authors identified an error in the affiliation list. The affiliation of author G. Walter Canonica should have been split up into two affiliations: • Personalized Medicine, Asthma and Allergy – Humanitas Clinical and Research Center – IRCCS, Rozzano (MI), Italy • Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Pieve Emanuele (MI), Italy The corrected affiliation list is reflected in this Correction. © 2020, The Author(s)