Models and methods for studying behavior in polyunsaturated fatty acid research

Abstract

This report examines a range of models and procedures applicable to polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) research and considers their relative merits. Considerations pertaining to cost, efficiency, and scientific rigor are of particular interest. Parallel activities in other areas of behavioral neuroscience, such as behavioral pharmacology and toxicology, that have profitably exploited various behavior designs for the study of human and animal cognition are noted. Special attention is given to the utility of operant conditioning models and schedules of reinforcement, which are currently underrepresented in PUFA research. Investigations of analogs of complex human behavior as well as implications for generalizing laboratory results to clinical phenomena are addressed.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), essentiality and requirements: why and how to provide supplementation

“…More recently Bakker et al (2003) do not provide evidence for a positive association between cognitive performance at 7 years and LC-PUFAs status at birth or at 7 years. However, as discussed by Mostofsky (2001), and Gibson & Makrides, (2001) the experimental design, methodologies, and environmental differences play a central role in studies investigating the effect of nutritional factors, such as DHA, on cognitive and visual development during infancy. Salem et al (2001) in a critical review about omega-3 and omega-6 LC-PUFA supplementation for full-term infants concluded that "given the present state of knowledge from human and animal studies on changes in the neural function associated with a low DHA status, coupled with biochemical and nutritional studies indicating the loss of DHA in both peripheral tissues and the nervous system when preformed DHA is not fed, it is clear that a prudent course of action would be to supply sources of preformed DHA to the infant diet".…”