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Omega-3 Fatty Acid Attenuates Cardiovascular Effects in Healthy Older Volunteers Exposed to Concentrated Ambient Fine and UltrafineParticulate Matter
Citation:
TONG, H., A. G. RAPPOLD, A. Hinderliter, S. Steck, J. Bernsten, D. DIAZ SANCHEZ, R. B. DEVLIN, AND J. M. SAMET. Omega-3 Fatty Acid Attenuates Cardiovascular Effects in Healthy Older Volunteers Exposed to Concentrated Ambient Fine and UltrafineParticulate Matter. Presented at American Thoracic Society (ATS) meeting, Denver, CO, May 13 - 18, 2011.
Impact/Purpose:
These findings show that short-term exposure to CAPS results in acute cardiovascular effects in healthy older adults and that fish oil supplementation can mitigate the cardiac effects of CAPS exposure.
Description:
Rationale: Ambient particulate matter (PM) exposure has been associated with adverse cardiovascular effects. A recent epidemiology study reported that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (fish oil) supplementation blunted the response of study participants to PM. Our study was designed to address this question in a controlled setting by directly comparing the ability of fish oil to blunt cardiovascular effects observed in subjects exposed to concentrated ambient fine and ultrafine particles (CAPS). Methods: Twenty nine healthy older subjects (mean age 58±1 yr) were supplemented in a double-blinded manner with 3g/d of either fish oil (FO) or olive oil (00) for 4 weeks prior to two-hour exposure to sequential filtered air and fine/ultrafine CAPS. Vascular endpoints included blood pressure, coagulation markers, and blood lipids. Time and frequency domain of heart rate variability as well as repolarization changes were also measured. Results: FO protected against CAPS-induced reductions in high frequency/low frequency ratio (HF/LF ratio), as well as elevations in LFn (0.006), QT (p=0.002) and QTc (p=0.034) that were observed in the 00 group. Diastolic blood pressure was increased significantly at 1 hour post CAPS exposure (p=0.03). In addition, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and triglyceride concentrations were increased significantly in subjects supplemented with 00 1h after exposure to CAPS, but not in FO supplemented subjects. Conclusions: These findings show that short-term exposure to CAPS results in acute cardiovascular effects in healthy older adults and that fish oil supplementation can mitigate the cardiac effects of CAPS exposure. This abstract of a proposed presentation does not necessarily reflect USEPA policy.