Effect of chronic fish oil supplementation on renal function of normal and cachectic rats

in the present study we determined the effect of chronic diet supplementation with n-3 pufa on renal function of healthy and cachectic subjects by providing fish oil (1 g/kg body weight) to female rats throughout pregnancy and lactation and then to their offspring post-weaning and examined its effect on renal function parameters during their adulthood. the animals were divided into four groups of 5-10 rats in each group: control, control supplemented with fish oil (p), cachectic walker 256 tumor-bearing (w), and w supplemented with fish oil (wp). food intake was significantly lower in the w group compared to control (12.66 ± 4.24 vs 25.30 ± 1.07 g/day). treatment with fish oil significantly reversed this reduction (22.70 ± 2.94 g/day). tumor growth rate was markedly reduced in the p group (16.41 ± 2.09 for wp vs 24.06 ± 2.64 g for w). wp group showed a significant increase in mean glomerular filtration rate compared to p and control (1.520 ± 0.214 ml min-1 kg body weight-1; p < 0.05). tumor-bearing groups had low urine osmolality compared to control rats. the fractional sodium excretion decreased in the w group compared to control (0.43 ± 0.16 vs 2.99 ± 0.87%; p < 0.05), and partially recovered in the wp group (0.90 ± 0.20%). in summary, the chronic supplementation with fish oil used in this study increased the amount of fat in the diet by only 0.1%, but caused remarkable changes in tumor growth rate and cachexia, also showing a renoprotective function.