Abstract
Knowing threshold changes in brain lipids and lipid enzymes during dietary n-3 polyunsaturated
fatty acid deprivation may elucidate dietary regulation of brain lipid metabolism.
To determine thresholds, rats were fed for 15 weeks DHA-free diets having graded reductions
of α-linolenic acid (α-LNA). Compared with control diet (4.6% α-LNA), plasma DHA fell
significantly at 1.7% dietary α-LNA while brain DHA remained unchanged down to 0.8%
α-LNA, when plasma and brain docosapentaenoic acid (DPAn-6) were increased and DHA-selective
iPLA2 and COX-1 activities were downregulated. Brain AA was unchanged by deprivation, but
AA selective-cPLA2, sPLA2 and COX-2 activities were increased at or below 0.8% dietary α-LNA, possibly in response
to elevated brain DPAn-6. In summary, homeostatic mechanisms appear to maintain a
control brain DHA concentration down to 0.8% dietary DHA despite reduced plasma DHA,
when DPAn-6 replaces DHA. At extreme deprivation, decreased brain iPLA2 and COX-1 activities may reduce brain DHA loss.
Abbreviations:
AA (arachidonic acid), BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor), COX (cyclooxygenase), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), DPAn-6 (docosapentaenoic acid), LA (linoleic acid), α–LNA (α-linolenic acid), LOX (lipoxygenase), cPLA2 (cytosolic phospholipase A2), sPLA2 (secretory PLA2), iPLA2 (Ca2+-independent PLA2), PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acid), sn (stereospecifically numbered)Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 31, 2011
Accepted:
August 9,
2011
Received in revised form:
August 3,
2011
Received:
June 19,
2011
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc.
