The Fatty Acid Composition of Maternal Diet Affects the Response to Excitotoxic Neural Injury in Neonatal Rat Pups

• Published in: Brain research bulletin Vol. 45; no. 6; pp. 637 - 640
• Main Authors: Valencia, Pablo, Carver, Jane D, Wyble, Lance E, Benford, Valerie J, Gilbert-Barness, Enid, Wiener, Doris A, Phelps, Christopher
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.04.1998; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Arachidonic acid; Atrophy; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - drug effects; Brain - pathology; Cerebral edema; Corn Oil; Dietary Fats; Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists - toxicity; Fatty Acids - analysis; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Fish oil; Fish Oils; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Lactation; Milk - chemistry; N-Methylaspartate - toxicity; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - pathology; Neurotoxins - toxicity; Nutrition; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Nutrition; Cerebral edema; Arachidonic acid; Fish oil; Rat; Toxicity; Arachidonic acid derivatives; Rodentia; Fatty acids; Prenatal; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Postnatal; Diet; Newborn animal; Excitatory aminoacid
• ISSN: 0361-9230; 1873-2747
• DOI: 10.1016/S0361-9230(97)00457-7

Fatty acids and their derivatives play a role in the response to neural injury. The effects of prenatal and postnatal dietary fatty acid composition on excitotoxic neural injury were investigated in neonatal rat pups. Dams were fed during gestation and lactation a diet whose fat source was either corn oil or menhaden fish oil. On postnatal day 3, litters were culled to 10 per dam. On postnatal day 4, excitotoxic neural injury was induced by infusion of the glutamate analog N-methyl- dl-aspartate (NMA) into the left cerebral hemisphere. Three days later, pups were killed and brains were removed for histological and volume assessments. Levels of arachidonic acid were 2.3-fold higher in cerebrums of pups in the corn oil group than in the fish oil group. Left cerebral hemispheres among all pups were atrophic. Right cerebral hemispheres of pups in the corn oil group showed more histological evidence of edema, and had significantly higher volumes than pups in the fish oil group (66 vs. 42 mm 2, p = 0.007). These data suggest that the fatty acid composition of prenatal and/or postnatal diet can affect the neonatal response to excitotoxic neural injury.