Long-term effect of docosahexaenoic acid feeding on lipid composition and brain fatty acid-binding protein expression in rats

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Moncton, Elizabeth A.
  • Brun, Miranda
  • Emara, Marwan
  • Field, Catherine J.
  • Goruk, Susan
  • Godbout, Roseline
  • Elsherbiny, Marwa E.
  • Richard, Caroline

• Arachidonic (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) brain accretion is essential for brain development. The impact of DHA-rich maternal diets on offspring brain fatty acid composition has previously been studied up to the weanling stage; however, there has been no follow-up at later stages. Here, we examine the impact of DHA-rich maternal and weaning diets on brain fatty acid composition at weaning and three weeks post-weaning. We report that DHA supplementation during lactation maintains high DHA levels in the brains of pups even when they are fed a DHA-deficient diet for three weeks after weaning. We show that boosting dietary DHA levels for three weeks after weaning compensates for a maternal DHA-deficient diet during lactation. Finally, our data indicate that brain fatty acid binding protein (FABP7), a marker of neural stem cells, is down-regulated in the brains of six-week pups with a high DHA:AA ratio. We propose that elevated levels of DHA in developing brain accelerate brain maturation relative to DHA-deficient brains.

• Date created

  2015

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Brain Lipids
  • Arachidonic Acid
  • Fatty Acid/Binding Protein
  • Brain Development
  • Diet And Dietary Lipids

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3Q52FS5Z

• License

  Attribution-NonCommerical-ShareALike 4.0 International