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The role of n−3 essential fatty acids in brain and behavioral development: A cross‐fostering study in the mouse
Author(s) -
Wainwright P. E.,
Huang Y. S.,
BulmanFleming B.,
Mills D. E.,
Redden P.,
McCutcheon D.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/bf02544022
Subject(s) - lipidology , clinical chemistry , calorie , linoleic acid , biology , fatty acid , fish oil , brain development , docosahexaenoic acid , polyunsaturated fatty acid , endocrinology , medicine , biochemistry , fish <actinopterygii> , neuroscience , fishery
A cross‐fostering design was used to examine the effects on brain and behavioral development in mice of pre‐and/or postnatal dietary supplementation with n−3 fatty acids. Pregnant mice were fed either of two liquid diets, control (con) or experimental (exp). Each diet provided 3% of the calories in the form of n−6 fatty acids; the experimental diet was supplemented with an additional 1.5% from long chain n−3 fatty acids derived from fish oil. There were four treatment groups, with all pups fostered at birth. These groups were (prenatal diet/ postnatal diet): Group 1, exp/exp; Group 2, exp/con; Group 3, con/exp; Group 4, con/con; a fifth control group (unfostered) was fed lab chow (LC) throughout the study. Animals from the exp/exp and con/con groups were weaned onto lab chow for later behavioral assessment. Prenatal n−3 supplementation resulted in a small acceleration of behavioral development. The adult animals did not differ in visual discrimination learning nor did they differ in visual acuity. During development the fatty acid composition of the brain membrane phospholipids reflected closely that of the pre‐ and postnatal dietary conditions. Levels of 22∶5n−3 and 22∶6n−3 increased in the n−3 supplemented groups, accompanied by a decrease in levels of 22∶4n−6 and 22∶5n−6; the net effect of these changes was to increase the total levels of C 22 fatty acids. While these results support considerable plasticity of the fatty acid composition of the developing brain with respect to the immediate dietary availability of n−3 compounds, they do not support long term effects on learning capacity of n−3 supplementation during the developmental period.