Obesity is associated with increased risk for infections and poor responses to vaccinations, which may be due to compromised B-cell function. However, there is limited information about the influence of obesity on B-cell function and underlying factors that modulate B-cell responses. Therefore, we studied B-cell cytokine secretion and/or antibody production across obesity models. In obese humans, B-cell IL-6 secretion was lowered and IgM levels were elevated upon ex vivo anti-BCR/TLR9 stimulation. In murine obesity induced by a high fat diet, ex vivo IgM and IgG were elevated with unstimulated B-cells. Furthermore, the high fat diet lowered bone marrow B-cell frequency accompanied by diminished transcripts of early lymphoid commitment markers. Murine B-cell responses were subsequently investigated upon influenza A/Puerto Rico/8/34 infection using a Western diet model in the absence or presence of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA3). DHA, an essential fatty acid with immunomodulatory properties, was tested since its plasma levels are lowered in obesity. Relative to controls, mice consuming the Western diet had diminished antibody titers whereas the Western diet + DHA improved titers. Mechanistically, DHA did not directly target B-cells to elevate antibody levels. Instead, DHA increased the concentration of the downstream specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators (SPMs) 14-HDHA, 17-HDHA, and protectin DX. All three SPMs were found to be effective in elevating murine antibody levels upon influenza infection. Altogether, the results demonstrate that B-cell responses are impaired across human and mouse obesity models and show that essential fatty acid status is a factor influencing humoral immunity, potentially through an SPM-mediated mechanism.

Mitochondria are the energy-producing organelles within a cell. Furthermore, mitochondria have a role in maintaining cellular homeostasis and proper calcium concentrations, building critical components of hormones and other signaling molecules, and controlling apoptosis. Structurally, mitochondria are unique because they have 2 membranes that allow for compartmentalization. The composition and molecular organization of these membranes are crucial to the maintenance and function of mitochondria. In this review, we first present a general overview of mitochondrial membrane biochemistry and biophysics followed by the role of different dietary saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in modulating mitochondrial membrane structure-function. We focus extensively on long-chain n-3 (ω-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids and their underlying mechanisms of action. Finally, we discuss implications of understanding molecular mechanisms by which dietary n-3 fatty acids target mitochondrial structure-function in metabolic diseases such as obesity, cardiac-ischemia reperfusion injury, obesity, type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and select cancers.

Cardiac mitochondrial phospholipid acyl chains regulate respiratory enzymatic activity. In several diseases, the rodent cardiac phospholipidome is extensively rearranged; however, whether specific acyl chains impair respiratory enzyme function is unknown. One unique remodeling event in the myocardium of obese and diabetic rodents is an increase in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels. Here, we first confirmed that cardiac DHA levels are elevated in diabetic humans relative to controls. We then used dietary supplementation of a Western diet with DHA as a tool to promote cardiac acyl chain remodeling and to study its influence on respiratory enzyme function. DHA extensively remodeled the acyl chains of cardiolipin (CL), mono-lyso CL, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylethanolamine. Moreover, DHA lowered enzyme activities of respiratory complexes I, IV, V, and I+III. Mechanistically, the reduction in enzymatic activities were not driven by a dramatic reduction in the abundance of supercomplexes. Instead, replacement of tetralinoleoyl-CL with tetradocosahexaenoyl-CL in biomimetic membranes prevented formation of phospholipid domains that regulate enzyme activity. Tetradocosahexaenoyl-CL inhibited domain organization due to favorable Gibbs free energy of phospholipid mixing. Furthermore, in vitro substitution of tetralinoleoyl-CL with tetradocosahexaenoyl-CL blocked complex-IV binding. Finally, reintroduction of linoleic acid, via fusion of phospholipid vesicles to mitochondria isolated from DHA-fed mice, rescued the major losses in the mitochondrial phospholipidome and complexes I, IV, and V activities. Altogether, our results show that replacing linoleic acid with DHA lowers select cardiac enzyme activities by potentially targeting domain organization and phospholipid-protein binding, which has implications for the ongoing debate about polyunsaturated fatty acids and cardiac health.

Cardiac phospholipids, notably cardiolipin, undergo acyl chain remodeling and/or loss of content in aging and cardiovascular diseases, which is postulated to mechanistically impair mitochondrial function. Less is known about how diet-induced obesity influences cardiac phospholipid acyl chain composition and thus mitochondrial responses. Here we first tested if a high fat diet remodeled murine cardiac mitochondrial phospholipid acyl chain composition and consequently disrupted membrane packing, supercomplex formation and respiratory enzyme activity. Mass spectrometry analyses revealed that mice consuming a high fat diet displayed 0.8–3.3 fold changes in cardiac acyl chain remodeling of cardiolipin, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylethanolamine. Biophysical analysis of monolayers constructed from mitochondrial phospholipids of obese mice showed an impairment in the packing properties of the membrane compared to lean mice. However, the high fat diet, relative to the lean controls, had no influence on cardiac mitochondrial supercomplex formation, respiratory enzyme activity, and even respiration. To determine if the effects were tissue specific, we subsequently conducted select studies with liver tissue. Compared to the control diet, the high fat diet remodeled liver mitochondrial phospholipid acyl chain composition by 0.6–5.3 fold with notable increases in n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturation. The remodeling in the liver was accompanied by diminished complex I to III respiratory enzyme activity by 3.5 fold. Finally, qRT-PCR analyses demonstrated an upregulation of liver mRNA levels of tafazzin, which contributes to cardiolipin remodeling. Altogether, these results demonstrate that diet-induced obesity remodels acyl chains in the mitochondrial phospholipidome and exerts tissue specific impairments of respiratory enzyme activity.

Cardiolipin (CL) has a critical role in maintaining mitochondrial inner membrane structure. In several conditions such as heart failure and aging, there is loss of CL content and remodeling of CL acyl chains, which are hypothesized to impair mitochondrial inner membrane biophysical organization. Therefore, this study discriminated how CL content and acyl chain composition influenced select properties of simple and complex mitochondrial mimicking model membranes. We focused on monolayer excess area/molecule (a measure of lipid miscibility), bilayer phase transitions, and microdomain organization. In monolayer compression studies, loss of tetralinoleoyl [(18:2)4] CL content decreased the excess area/molecule. Replacement of (18:2)4CL acyl chains with tetraoleoyl [(18:1)4] CL or tetradocosahexaenoyl [(22:6)4] CL generally had little influence on monolayer excess area/molecule; in contrast, replacement of (18:2)4CL acyl chains with tetramyristoyl [(14:0)4] CL increased monolayer excess area/molecule. In bilayers, calorimetric studies showed that substitution of (18:2)4CL with (18:1)4CL or (22:6)4CL lowered the phase transition temperature of phosphatidylcholine vesicles whereas (14:0)4CL had no effect. Finally, quantitative imaging of giant unilamellar vesicles revealed differential effects of CL content and acyl chain composition on microdomain organization, visualized with the fluorescent probe Texas Red DHPE. Notably, microdomain areas were decreased by differing magnitudes upon lowering of (18:2)4CL content and substitution of (18:2)4CL with (14:0)4CL or (22:6)4CL. Conversely, exchanging (18:2)4CL with (18:1)4CL increased microdomain area. Altogether, these data demonstrate that CL content and fatty acyl composition differentially target membrane physical properties, which has implications for understanding how CL regulates mitochondrial activity and the design of CL-specific therapeutics.