2023-05-012023-05-012020Fowler, L.A., Dennis-Cornelius, L.N., Dawson, J.A., Barry, R.J., Davis, J.L., Powell, M.L., Yuan, Y., Williams, M.B., Makowsky, R., D'Abramo, L.R., & Watts, S.A.. 2020. Both dietary ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids and total dietary lipid are positively associated with adiposity and reproductive health in zebrafish. Current Developments in Nutrition, 4(4). https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzaa034https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzaa034https://hdl.handle.net/2346/93051Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. cc-by-nc-ndBackground: Controversial findings have been reported in human and animal studies regarding the influence of n-6 (ω-6) to n-3 (ω-3) fatty acid ratios on obesity and health. Two confounding factors may be related to interactions with other dietary lipid components or sex-specific differences in fatty acid metabolism. Objective: This study investigated main and interactive effects of total dietary lipid, ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids, and sex on growth, adiposity, and reproductive health in wild-type zebrafish. Methods: Male and female zebrafish (3 wk old) were fed 9 diets consisting of 3 ratios of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids (1.4:1, 5:1, and 9.5:1) varied within 3 total lipid amounts (80, 110, and 140 g/kg) for 16 wk. Data were then collected on growth, body composition (determined by chemical carcass analysis), and female reproductive success (n = 32 breeding events/diet over 4 wk). Main and interactive effects of dietary lipid and sex were evaluated with regression methods. Significant differences within each dietary lipid component were relative to the intercept/reference group (80 g/kg and 1.4:1 ratio). Results: Dietary lipid and sex interacted in their effects on body weight (P = 0.015), total body length (P = 0.003), and total lipid mass (P = 0.029); thus, these analyses were stratified by sex. Female spawning success decreased as dietary total lipid and fatty acid ratio increased (P = 0.030 and P = 0.026, respectively). While total egg production was not associated with either dietary lipid component, females fed the 5:1 ratio produced higher proportions of viable embryos compared with the 1.4:1 ratio [median (95% CI): 0.915 (0.863, 0.956) vs 0.819 (0.716, 0.876); P < 0.001]. Conclusions: Further characterization of dietary lipid requirements will help define healthy balances of dietary lipid, while the sex-specific responses to dietary lipid identified in this study may partially explain sex disparities in the development of obesity and its comorbidities.engBody compositionDiet-induced obesityDietary lipid compositionReproductive healthZebrafishArticle