[Transgenic mice as models to study the influence of polyunsaturated fatty acids on metabolism]

The mouse is a popular animal model employed for studying metabolic alterations. The generation of fat-1 transgenic mice by Professor Jing X. Kang and collaborators has revolutionised the omega-3 research. Fat-1 mice are able to convert omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids due to gene fat-1 from Caenorhabditis elegans that encodes an omega-3 fatty acids desaturase. This mice model can endogenously synthesize omega-3 PUFA without ALA intake and the balancing quantity and quality of various confounding factors of different diets. Next, novel transgenic mice - "Omega mice" with the expression of the fat-1 and fat-2 transgenes were created to produce both omega-6 and omega-3 PUFA from a diet containing saturated fat or carbohydrates with essential fatty acids deficiency. Both transgenic mice are utilities for studying molecular mechanisms of omega-3 fatty acids and their metabolites in tumorigenesis and inflammatory disorders.