The role of n−3 essential fatty acids in brain and behavioral development: A cross‐fostering study in the mouse

Abstract

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 on 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 C22 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.

Neurodevelopmental Quotient of Healthy Term Infants at 4 Months and Feeding Practice: The Role of Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids

“…A short-term effect of dietary LC-PUFA on the structural modification of membranes and the performance of sensorymotor function has indeed been experimentally and clinically demonstrated (4)(5)(6)(16)(17)(18)(19). Sensory-motor performance was assessed to rate the neurodevelopmental response as DQ scores on Brunet-LCzine scale in contrast to earlier visual acuity (16,19) or developmental studies (17,18) of preterm infants who were fed n-3 LC-PUFA and whose response was assessed by different methods.…”

“…Then, that psychomotor infant development at 4 mo is directly influenced by the dietary intake of both AA and DHA does not ensure a predictive value of these results for childhood trends, and even less for later childhood development and beyond. The problem of the persistence of differences between groups supplied with n-3 LC-PUFA and controls has been addressed by animal studies (4,6,32) and is currently the focus of studies on preterm infants (16,19). Animals lacking dietary LC-PUFA in the early stages of growth show an age-related recovery of their structural lipid composition with a rehabilitation diet (4,6,32).…”

“…The problem of the persistence of differences between groups supplied with n-3 LC-PUFA and controls has been addressed by animal studies (4,6,32) and is currently the focus of studies on preterm infants (16,19). Animals lacking dietary LC-PUFA in the early stages of growth show an age-related recovery of their structural lipid composition with a rehabilitation diet (4,6,32). The possibility of a parallel functional improvement is still the object of debate.…”

“…The possibility of a parallel functional improvement is still the object of debate. Midterm observations on animals and preterm infants are also often conflicting (4,6,16,19,32).…”

Mechanisms of action of docosahexaenoic acid in the nervous system

“…Representative studies in the animal literature (28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42) concerning the n-3 fatty acid deficiency syndrome are presented in Table 2. Only studies that focus on neural functions, notably brain and retinal functions, have been included here.…”