Abstract
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a major structural component of the nervous system, and depletion may lead to losses in neural function. Our objective was to demonstrate a deficit in spatial task performance in rats with low brain DHA due to a low n-3 fatty acid intake using a first-generational artificial rearing technique. Newborn rat pups were separated on d 2 and assigned to two artificial rearing groups or a dam-reared control group. Pups were hand fed artificial milk via custom-designed nursing bottles containing either 0.02% (n-3 Def) or 3.1% (n-3 Adq) of total fatty acids as LNA. At d 21, rats were weaned to either n-3 Def or n-3 Adq pelleted diets and several behavioral tasks were evaluated at 9 wk of age. Brain DHA was lower (58% and 61%, p < 0.001) in n-3 Def in comparison to n-3 Adq and dam-reared rats, respectively. At adulthood, the n-3 fatty acid–deficient rats had a significantly greater moving time than the dam-reared group (p < 0.05), but there were no differences among the three groups in the elevated plus maze test. The n-3 fatty acid deficient rats exhibited a longer escape latency (p < 0.05) and poorer memory retention in the Morris water maze compared with n-3 fatty acid adequate and dam-reared rats. We concluded that artificial rearing can be used to produce n-3 fatty acid deficiency in the first generation. This deficiency was associated with significantly reduced spatial learning. Adequate brain DHA levels are required for optimal spatial learning.
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Abbreviations
- AA:
-
arachidonic acid
- AR:
-
artificial rearing
- DHA:
-
docosahexaenoic acid, 22:6n-3
- DPAn-6:
-
docosapentaenoic acid, n-6, 22:5n-6
- EPA:
-
eicosapentaenoic acid
- LA:
-
linoleic acid
- LNA:
-
alpha-linolenic acid, 18:3n-3
- n-3 Adq:
-
n-3 fatty acid adequate group
- n-3 Def:
-
n-3 fatty acid deficient group
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Lim, SY., Hoshiba, J., Moriguchi, T. et al. N-3 Fatty Acid Deficiency Induced by a Modified Artificial Rearing Method Leads to Poorer Performance in Spatial Learning Tasks. Pediatr Res 58, 741–748 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1203/01.PDR.0000180547.46725.CC
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/01.PDR.0000180547.46725.CC
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