Effects of maternal essential fatty‐acid deficiency on neonatal rat brain

Abstract

. (1968). Eflects of Maternal Essential Fatty-acid Deficiency o n Neonatal Rat Brain. DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, l(4) 225-229. Female weanling rats were raised to sexual maturity on either a normal stock diet or an essential fatty-acid (EFA) deficient diet, and then bred. Brain weight and lipid composition of the offspring from these animals were measured as part of an investigation into factors contributing to the early death of EFA-deficient progen). Lactation failure does not seem to be an adequate explanation of the early deaths since the dead EFA-dehcient offspring frequently have milk in their stomachs. Maternal behavior including nesting was lacking, however, in EFA-deficient dams. The EF4-deficient brains weighed less than normal neonatal brains, and frequently had subdural hemorrhaging. Relative to body weight, however, some "sparing" of the brain was apparent. Total hi aiii sterol concentration was not measurably different, but fatty-acid composition of total brain lipid and phospholipid was. T h e EFA-deficient offspring had relatively less arachidonate and other EFA-related fatty acids, while the proportion of ti ienoic acids, principallr 20:3 and 2 2 3 was increased considerably. In phosphatidyl ethanolarnine, the proportion of 16:O was particularly elevated in the EFA-deficient brains. T h e results are discussed in relation to the integrity of inyelin and the synthesis of prostaglandins, as possible factors in the premature death of EFA-deficient progeny.essential fatty acid deficiency brain myelin maternal behavior lipid and phospholipid multiple sclerosis prostaglandins HE PARTICULARLY high rate of fetal and early post-

Lipid alterations and their reversion in the central nervous system of growing rats deficient in essential fatty acids

“…EFA deficiency induced in the rat at the early stage of development affects body and brain growth after even a few weeks of extrauterine life. A reduction in body and brain weights in the offspring from female rats raised to sexual maturity on an EFA deficient diet and then bred has been reported also by Steinberg et al (15). Early EFA deficiency results in decreased brain phospholipid and total lipid deposition, indicating that dietary polyunsatu-rated essential fatty acids play a significant role for brain development.…”

“…The importance of dietary lipids for the growing brain is shown by the influence of the maternal diets upon the brain fatty acid composition in newborn rats (14). Furthermore, Steinberg et al (15) have shown that, when female rats are raised to sexual maturity on an EFA deficient diet and then bred, the newborn's body and brain weights are reduced and the brain fatty acid composition is changed.…”

The Effect of Different Dietary Levels of Essential Fatty Acids on Body Composition of the Rat

“…To overcome the difficulties in obtaining standardized conditions, we fed our animals the experimental diets for two generations before the actual study; the dams were mated at the age of 3 months, and only the first litter was used. Another disadvantage of practically all the previous studies has been the drastic reduction of fat in the EFA-free diet [14,15,17] which might have caused serious changes in the energy metabolism. Therefore, our different diets have contained the same concentrations of nutrients, in which fat has constituted 20 cal%.…”