DHA supplementation during pregnancy as phospholipids or TAG produces different placental uptake but similar fetal brain accretion in neonatal piglets

Abstract

The great variety of n-3 long-chain PUFA sources raises the question of the most adequate for using as a DHA supplement during pregnancy. Placental and fetal availability of different DHA sources remains unclear. We investigated DHA availability in maternal lipoproteins, placenta and fetal tissues in pregnant sows fed DHA as phospholipid (PL) or TAG to identify the best DHA source during this period. Pregnant Iberian sows were fed diets containing 0·8 % DHA of total fatty acids as PL from egg yolk or TAG from algae oil during the last third of gestation (40 d). Maternal tissues, placentas and fetal tissues were obtained at delivery and DHA quantified by GC. Major Facilitator Superfamily Domain Containing 2a (MFSD2a) carrier expression was analysed in both placenta and fetal brain by Western blotting. Sows fed the DHA-PL diet showed higher DHA incorporation in plasma LDL but not in plasma total lipids. No differences were found in DHA content between groups in maternal liver, adipose tissue or brain. Placental tissue incorporated more DHA in both total lipids and PL fraction in sows fed DHA-PL. However, this did not lead to an enhanced DHA accretion either in fetal plasma, fetal liver or fetal brain. MFSD2a expression was similar between both experimental groups. Maternal DHA supplementation during pregnancy in sow either as PL or TAG produces similar DHA accretion in fetal tissues but not in placenta. Both fat sources are equally available for fetal brain.

Towards an Optimized Fetal DHA Accretion: Differences on Maternal DHA Supplementation Using Phospholipids vs. Triglycerides during Pregnancy in Different Models

“…The low number of animals per group may have conditioned the lack of statistical significance in DHA PL fraction data (n = 6/group). The higher incorporation of DHA was in HDL and LDL lipoproteins [113]. These results of higher DHA in PL fraction after the ingestion of a DHA-PL source obtained in pregnant sows were in line with previous studies performed in non-pregnant animals [109,111,112], probably some inter-species differences in metabolism and in fat sources composition influenced the discrepancies observed between rat and pig studies.…”

“…Our group also carried out a similar experiment with pregnant sows in which animals were fed with diets containing 0.8% DHA from egg yolk (PL form) or microalgae oil (TG form) during the last third of gestation (40 d) (Figure 3) [113]. In this study, despite no differences were observed in total plasma FA profile between groups, we found a non-significant trend towards greater incorporation of DHA in plasma PL fraction in DHA-PL fed group compared to DHA-TG (p = 0.130), which indicates that maternal metabolism modulates in certain degree the effect of dietary DHA, modifying its incorporation in maternal serum lipid fractions [113]. The low number of animals per group may have conditioned the lack of statistical significance in DHA PL fraction data (n = 6/group).…”

Child Head Circumference and Placental MFSD2a Expression Are Associated to the Level of MFSD2a in Maternal Blood During Pregnancy

“…MFSD2a protein has 12 transmembrane domains composed of two evolutionary duplicated six transmembrane units (36). We have detected by Western blotting assays different molecular weights bands corresponding to MFSD2a (∼100, 70, and 50 KDa) that have been previously described in different cell types and tissues from human, mice, and pig, in which this protein showed different patterns of glycosylation that could imply different functions (18,(37)(38)(39); in our study the band analyzed in blood samples was of 100 KDa. Using three-dimensional structural models, it was suggested that MFSD2a undergoes conformational changes to pivot the translocation of lyso-PL from the outer leaflet to the inner leaflet of the membrane (36).…”

DHA Esterified to Phosphatidylserine or Phosphatidylcholine is More Efficient at Targeting the Brain than DHA Esterified to Triacylglycerol

“…To our knowledge, no study has evaluated this question using similar DHA carriers. However, there are several reports that evaluated brain DHA enrichment after supplementation with DHA esterified to PtdCho or as a PtdCho‐rich phospholipid blend against a DHA control in mice or rats . Most report no difference in brain DHA accretion or subtle differences between the groups.…”

“…However, there are several reports that evaluated brain DHA enrichment after supplementation with DHA esterified to PtdCho or as a PtdCho‐rich phospholipid blend against a DHA control in mice or rats . Most report no difference in brain DHA accretion or subtle differences between the groups. More recently, other studies have focused on DHA‐PtdSer against a placebo only, DHA esterified to PtdCho or a DHA‐rich phospholipid blend with conflicting results.…”