Maternal intake of Omega-3 essential fatty acids improves long term potentiation in the dentate gyrus and Morris water maze performance in rats

Autism as a disorder of deficiency of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and altered metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids

“…Several clinical studies did suggest that supplementing infants with AA, EPA, and DHA significantly improved their cognitive development and memory [48,49]. DHA reversed the age-related and phospholipase A 2 -induced impairment in LTP and depolarization-induced glutamate transmitter release and improved memory [50][51][52][53][54]. Similar beneficial effect on improvement in memory also was documented with AA administration in experimental animals [51].…”

Impact of dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on cognition, motor skills and hippocampal neurogenesis in developing C57BL/6J mice

“…However, Carrié et al found no effects on spatial learning or memory in adult female mice demonstrated in both an n-3 PUFA deficiency model and an n-3 PUFA supplementation study [59,72]. A study performed by Kavraal et al underlined the importance of n-3 PUFA availability starting early on at gestation in rats [81]. In that study, both dams and offspring were supplemented with n-3 PUFA, and offspring was also supplemented with n-3 PUFA from gestation and throughout life.…”

“…However, in contrast to our results, an increase in spatial learning was demonstrated, whereas there was no significant effect on spatial memory. The limitation of that study was that the supplemented diet was compared to a standard rat chow, which contained 1.9% ALA, preventing complete n-3 PUFA depletion [81]. These studies show the importance of choosing the right starting point for supplementation and composition of diets.…”

Impact of fatty acids on brain circulation, structure and function

“…Moreover, an 8-week modified feeding schedule implied that increased DHA consumption by rats reversed age-related impairments in LTP [131] which plays a vital role in learning and memory encoding [132]. Increased LTP by DHA was indeed found to enhance performance in the MWM task [133]. The role of ω3-LCPUFAs in brain development and plasticity is strengthened by the fact that cultured immature, adult and aged rat neurons exhibited increased neurite outgrowth after incubation with DHA, EPA and AA, allocating neurotrophic and neuroregenerative properties to these compounds [134,135].…”