Modification by docosahexaenoic acid of age-induced alterations in gene expression and molecular composition of rat brain phospholipids.

ABSTRACT: Advanced age is associated with reduced brain levels of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Memory impairment is also a common phenomenon in this age. Two-year-old, essential fatty acid-sufficient rats were fed with fish oil (11% DHA) for 1 month, and fatty acid as well as molecular composition of the major phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), was compared with that of 2-month-old rats on the same diet. DHA but not AA was significantly reduced in brains of old rats but was restored to the level of young rats when they received rat chow fortified with fish oil. This effect was pronounced with diacyl 18:0/22:6 PE species, whereas levels of 18:1/22:6 and 16:0/22:6 remained unchanged in all of the three

SUBMITTER: Barcelo-Coblijn G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC208755 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature