Postmenopause represents a major health apprehension for aging populations that might be prevented by nutritional strategies. In this study we examined whether the supplemented n-3 fatty acids could contribute with arachidonic acid (n-6) in the cell membrane to augment inflammation in ovariectomized rats. Forty female Sprague- Dawley rats were used in this study and divided into four groups: sham control, fish oil, ovariectomized (OVX) and treated groups. Erythrocyte membrane was used in this study to examine how far fish oil could augment any disturbances in its components, so that arachidonic acid (AA), linolenic acid (LA) and α-linolenic acid (ALA) were estimated by RP- HPLC using UV detector that set at 200 nm. The results appeared that fish oil supplementation in a dose of 1.2 ml /kg body weight /day orally for 8 weeks effectively attenuated inflammation in OVX rats. We concluded that supplementation of marine omega-3 fatty acids reduced the inflammation that induced by ovarictomy in female rats, we suggested that omega-3 fatty acids compete with omega-6 in incorporation in cell membrane resulting in a reduction in arachidonic acid and then a reduction in inflammatory mediators.
