Wax Esters from the Marine Copepod Calanus finmarchicus Reduce Diet-Induced Obesity and Obesity-Related Metabolic Disorders in Mice

Abstract

We showed previously that dietary supplementation with oil from the marine zooplankton Calanus finmarchicus (Calanus oil) attenuates obesity, inflammation, and glucose intolerance in mice. More than 80% of Calanus oil consists of wax esters, i.e., long-chain fatty alcohols linked to long-chain fatty acids. In the present study, we compared the metabolic effects of Calanus oil-derived wax esters (WE) with those of purified eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) + docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) ethyl esters (E/D) in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity. C57BL/6J mice received a high-fat diet (HFD; 45% energy from fat). After 7 wk, the diet was supplemented with either 1% (wt:wt) WE or 0.2% (wt:wt) E/D. The amount of EPA + DHA in the E/D diet was matched to the total amount of n-3 (ω-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the WE diet. A third group was given an unsupplemented HFD throughout the entire 27-wk feeding period. WE reduced body weight gain, abdominal fat, and liver triacylglycerol by 21%, 34%, and 52%, respectively, and significantly improved glucose tolerance and aerobic capacity. In abdominal fat depots, WE reduced macrophage infiltration by 74% and downregulated expression of proinflammatory genes (tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1), whereas adiponectin expression was significantly upregulated. By comparison, E/D primarily suppressed the expression of proinflammatory genes but had less influence on glucose tolerance than WE. E/D affected obesity parameters, aerobic capacity, or adiponectin expression by <10%. These results show that the wax ester component of Calanus oil can account for the biologic effects shown previously for the crude oil. However, these effects cannot exclusively be ascribed to the content of n-3 PUFAs in the wax ester fraction.

Metabolic Disorder in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients: Towards a Personalized Approach Using Marine Drug Derivatives

“…Table 2 reports new drugs and drug derivatives obtained by different marine organisms proposed in anti-obesity treatment [62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92,93,94]. …”

Dietary marine-derived long-chain monounsaturated fatty acids and cardiovascular disease risk: a mini review

“…Calanus finmarchicus is the most abundant herbivorous zooplankton that that are enriched in both n-3 PUFA and LCMUFA [38]. Several studies showed beneficial effect of dietary Calanus oil in CVD risk, such as reducing atherosclerotic plaque formation, abdominal fat accumulation and hepatic steatosis, and improving glucose tolerance in mice through multiple mechanisms, including regulation of inflammatory response-associated gene expression in livers and adipose tissues [39–41]. Nevertheless, because these marine oils also contain considerable amounts of n-3 PUFA and intake of these marine oils increased plasma and organ levels of EPA and DHA, one cannot exclude the possibility that the benefit from this diet was only due to n-3 PUFA consumption.…”

Lipid profile of mice fed a high‐fat diet supplemented with a wax ester‐rich marine oil

“…Analysis of Calanus Oil have shown that levels of heavy metals and organic pollutants are well below the limits specified for marine oils by the Commission Regulation (EC) No1881/2006 and 629/2008 (Commission of the European Communities) (manuscript in preparation). Recent studies suggest that inclusion of low levels of Calanus oil or isolated wax esters in feed to rodents on a Western type high fat diet (HFD), may reduce atherogenesis and have other positive health effects such as reduced abdominal obesity, reduced adipose tissue inflammation and improvement in systemic glucose tolerance .…”