Deciphering the role of docosahexaenoic acid in brain maturation and pathology with magnetic resonance imaging.

ABSTRACT: Animal studies have found that deficits in brain docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) accrual during perinatal development leads to transient and enduring abnormalities in brain development and function. Determining the relevance of this evidence to brain disorders in humans has been hampered by an inability to determine antimortem brain DHA levels and limitations associated with a postmortem approach. Accordingly, there is a need for alternate or complementary approaches to better understand the role of DHA in cortical function and pathology, and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques may be ideally suited for this application. A major advantage of neuroimaging is that it permits prospective evaluation of the effects of manipulating DHA status on both clinical and neuroim

SUBMITTER: McNamara RK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3458176 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature