Chronic administration of ethyl docosahexaenoate reduces gerbil brain eicosanoid productions following ischemia and reperfusion

Protective effect of docosahexaenoic acid against brain injury in ischemic rats

“…These experimental findings show some similarities with those clinical observations indicating lower proportions of PUFAs in stroke patients, and the reduction parallels stroke severity [21][22][23][24]. According to these relevant studies, the neuroactive effects of ω-3 PUFAs could be demonstrated in different administration routes, including oral gavage or intracerebroventricular, intravenous or intraperitoneal injection [26][27][28][29][30][32][33][34]. Surprisingly, the administration of DHA (100 nmol/kg ip) was ineffective in modulating postischemic alterations in this study.…”

“…8). Existing evidence indicates that ischemic neuroprotection of PUFAs in chronic dietary supplementation or single injection prior to injury involves stabilization of membrane integrity, improvement of local cerebral blood flow, blockade of glutamatergic transmission, reduction of eicosanoid production, enhancement of antioxidative capacity and/or induction of chaperon proteins [17,26,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. In comparison with those proposed neuroprotective mechanisms, we found that the beneficial effects of DHA preadministration on ischemic brain injury were well associated with the reduction of oxidative burden, elevation of Bcl-2 expression and/or stimulation of ERK activity.…”

“…Rodents that receive a fish-oilsupplemented diet for 6 weeks or daily administration of fish oil by gavage for 2 weeks prior to ischemia suffer less brain injury from ischemic insult [17,35]. Daily administration of ω-3 PUFA (150 or 200 mg/kg) by gavage for 4-10 weeks protects against brain ischemic damage [26,[32][33][34]. Intravenous administration of ω-3 PUFA (500 nmol/kg) 3 days prior to ischemia induces ischemic tolerance [30].…”

“…Surprisingly, the administration of DHA (100 nmol/kg ip) was ineffective in modulating postischemic alterations in this study. Cao et al [33,34] reported that chronic administration of DHA by gavage at doses of 150 and 200 mg/kg, but not 100 mg/kg (280 μmol/kg), showed ischemic protection. Unfortunately, due to instrument and technique limitations, we were unable to determine the exact change in the plasma level of DHA and other PUFAs in our study.…”

“…However, there is now considerable research describing the beneficial effects of PUFAs on the prevention of cerebral I/R injury in both human and animal studies. Most neuroprotective effects of PUFAs are demonstrated in chronic dietary supplementation prior to cerebral I/R involving improvement of hemodynamics, blockade of glutamatergic transmission, reduction of eicosanoid production, enhancement of antioxidative capacity and/or induction of chaperon proteins [17,26,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35].…”