Background: Chronic kidney disease and inflammation promote loss of Klotho expression. Given the well-established anti-inflammatory effects of omega-3 fatty acids, we aimed to investigate the effect of fish oil supplementation in a model of CKD.
Methods: Male C57BL/6 mice received supplementation with an adenine-enriched diet (AD, n = 5) or standard diet (CTL, n = 5) for 10 days. Two other experimental groups were kept under the adenine diet for 10 days. Following adenine withdrawal on the 11th day, the animals returned to a standard diet supplemented with fish oil (Post AD-Fish oil, n = 9) or not (Post AD-CTL, n = 9) for an additional period of 7 days.
Results: Adenine mice exhibited significantly higher mean serum urea, creatinine, and renal expression of the pro-inflammatory markers Interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-X-C motif chemokine 10 (CXCL10), and Interleukin-1β (IL-1β), in addition to prominent renal fibrosis and reduced renal Klotho gene expression compared to the control. Post AD-Fish oil animals demonstrated a significant reduction of IL-6, C-X-C motif chemokine 9 (CXCL9), and IL-1β compared to Post AD-CTL animals. However, serum creatinine, renal fibrosis, and Klotho were not significantly different in the fish oil-treated group. Furthermore, renal histomorphological changes such as tubular dilatation and interstitial infiltration persisted despite treatment.
Conclusions: Fish oil supplementation reduced renal pro-inflammatory markers but was not able to restore renal function nor Klotho expression in an adenine-induced CKD model.
Keywords: CKD; fibrosis; fish oil; inflammation; klotho.