Early Supplementation of Phospholipids and Gangliosides Affects Brain and Cognitive Development in Neonatal Piglets1-3

Because human breast milk is a rich source of phospholipids and gangliosides and breastfed infants have improved learning compared with formula-fed infants, the importance of dietary phospholipids and gangliosides for brain development is of interest. We sought to determine the effects of phospholip...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of nutrition Vol. 144; no. 12; p. 1903
Main Authors Liu, Hongnan, Radlowski, Emily C, Conrad, Matthew S, Li, Yao, Dilger, Ryan N, Johnson, Rodney W
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bethesda American Institute of Nutrition 01.12.2014
Subjects
Animal cognition
Babies
Baby foods
Brain research
Cell adhesion & migration
Colleges & universities
Diet
Glycerol
Hogs
Laboratory animals
Memory
Metabolites
Milk
Nutrition research
Proteins
Rodents
Signal transduction
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Because human breast milk is a rich source of phospholipids and gangliosides and breastfed infants have improved learning compared with formula-fed infants, the importance of dietary phospholipids and gangliosides for brain development is of interest. We sought to determine the effects of phospholipids and gangliosides on brain and cognitive development. Male and female piglets from multiple litters were artificially reared and fed formula containing 0% (control), 0.8%, or 2.5% Lacprodan PL-20 (PL-20; Arla Foods Ingredients), a phospholipid/ganglioside supplement, from postnatal day (PD) 2 to PD28. Beginning on PD14, performance in a spatial T-maze task was assessed. At PD28, brain MRI data were acquired and piglets were killed to obtain hippocampal tissue for metabolic profiling. Diet affected maze performance, with piglets that were fed 0.8% and 2.5% PL-20 making fewer errors than control piglets (80% vs. 75% correct on average; P < 0.05) and taking less time to make a choice (3 vs. 5 s/trial; P < 0.01 ). Mean brain weight was 5% higher for piglets fed 0.8% and 2.5% PL-20 (P < 0.05) than control piglets, and voxel-based morphometry revealed multiple brain areas with greater volumes and more gray and white matter in piglets fed 0.8% and 2.5% PL-20 than in control piglets. Metabolic profiling of hippocampal tissue revealed that multiple phosphatidylcholine-related metabolites were altered by diet. In summary, dietary phospholipids and gangliosides improved spatial learning and affected brain growth and composition in neonatal piglets.
ISSN:0022-3166
1541-6100