Abstract
There is little evidence as to the fatty acid composition of the cerebellum in infancy and it remains uncertain whether milk diet can influence its composition. We therefore examined cerebellar gray and white matter of infants less than 6 mon old who had died unexpectedly. The fatty acid content of 33 gray and 21 white matter specimens from infants born at term and 6 gray and 5 white matter specimens from pretern infants was assessed by gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric analysis. Infants were grouped according to whether they had received human or manufactured formula milk. Whereas cerebellar cortex docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22∶6n−3) concentrations were significantly lower (P<0.01) in the formula-fed than breast-fed infants, no differences existed between the term (n=10) and preterm (n=5) Scientific Milk Adaptation (SMA) formula-fed infants. Cerebellar white matter DHA concentrations were similarly lower (P<0.01) in the SMA formula-fed infants (n=8) than in an age-matched breast-fed group. Low concentrations of cerebellar white matter lignoceric (24∶0) and nervonic acid (24∶1n−9) in two 7-wk-old preterm infants appeared to correlated with postgestational rather than chronological age. Dietary long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids particularly DHA, are probably essential for normal development of the infant cerebellum.
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Abbreviations
- CGOS:
-
Cow Gate and Farley’s Ostermilk formulas
- DHA:
-
docosahexaenoic acid
- DPA:
-
docosapentaenoic acid
- PUFA:
-
polyunsaturated fatty acids
- SMA:
-
Scientific Milk Adaptation
- VLCFA:
-
very long chain fatty acids
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Jamieson, E.C., Farquharson, J., Logan, R.W. et al. Infant cerebellar gray and white matter fatty acids in relation to age and diet. Lipids 34, 1065–1071 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-999-0458-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-999-0458-5