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Plasticity of Mouse Brain Docosahexaenoic Acid: Modulation by Diet and Age

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Lipids

Abstract

Decreases in brain docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have been associated with losses in brain function leading to an interest in the conditions which lead to such brain decreases, and such variables as age. Also of relevance would be the rate of repletion of DHA when the n-3 dietary deficiency is reversed. This experiment describes dietary deficiency in n-3 fatty acids induced in weanling (3 week) and young adult (7 week) mice. There was an immediate and continuous loss of brain DHA with similar rates in the two age groups. Serum DHA declined more rapidly in younger animals with respect to similarly treated adults. Brain and serum docosapentaenoic acid (DPAn-6) increased more rapidly and to higher levels in the younger animals. A second experiment determined the rates of normalization of brain fatty acid profiles when alpha-linolenic acid was added to the diets of n-3 deficient mice. Brain DHA recovery occurred at a faster rate (half-time, T 1/2 = 1.4 weeks) when begun at weaning relative to young adult mice (T 1/2 = 3.5 weeks). Correspondingly, brain DPAn-6 recovered faster in the younger animals; the adult group had a half-time of more than twice that of the 3-week old group. This study therefore demonstrates that the young adult mouse brain DHA is somewhat plastic and can be partially depleted via a low n-3 fatty acid diet and subsequently restored when dietary n-3 fatty acids are repleted. Relevance of these findings for human nutrition is discussed.

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Abbreviations

DHA:

Docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3)

DPAn-6:

Docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-6)

DTA:

Docosatetraenoic acid (22:4n-6)

EPA:

Eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3)

ARA:

Arachidonic acid (20:4n-6)

ALA:

Alpha-linolenic acid (18:3n-3)

LNA:

Linoleic acid, (18:2n-6)

n-3 Adq:

n-3 Fatty acid adequate

n-3 Def:

n-3 Fatty acid deficient

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, NIAAA.

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Author notes

  1. Toru Moriguchi & Akiko Harauma

    Present address: Department of Food and Life Science, Azabu University, 1-17-71 Fuchinobe, Chuo, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-5201, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Healthcare Research Institute, Wakunaga Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, Hiroshima, Japan

    Toru Moriguchi & Akiko Harauma

  2. Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, USA

    Norman Salem Jr.

  3. Nutritional Lipids, DSM Nutritional Products Inc., 6480 Dobbin Road, Columbia, MD, 21045, USA

    Norman Salem Jr.

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  1. Toru Moriguchi
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Correspondence to Norman Salem Jr..

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Moriguchi, T., Harauma, A. & Salem, N. Plasticity of Mouse Brain Docosahexaenoic Acid: Modulation by Diet and Age. Lipids 48, 343–355 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-013-3775-5

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