n-3 Deficient and docosahexaenoic acid-enriched diets during critical periods of the developing prenatal rat brain

The last period of the intrauterine life in the rat (embryonic day 17 to 21, ED17-ED21) is demarcated by an increase in brain and body weight and active neuronogenesis. During this period, a rapid accumulation of DHA (22:6 n-3), unparalleled to other fatty acids, takes place. The details of DHA rapid acquisition in the fetal brain were investigated after imposing a diet deficient in n-3 fatty acids (FA) as of ED1 and subsequently examining the distribution of DHA in major brain phospholipid (PL) classes on ED20, having added on ED15 a triglyceride (TG) mixture enriched up to 43% with DHA. The n-3 deficiency maintained for 19 days resulted at ED20 in more than 30% reduction of DHA in PL, which was counterbalanced by an increase of docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, 22:5 n-6). No effect on body weight, nor major changes in PL composition or other FA in fetal brain PL were observed. Feeding dams a DHA-TG diet on ED15 induced an immediate increase of DHA in maternal liver PL, followed by a subsequent increase of DHA in fetal liver PL, as well as in fetal brain PL. Thus the content of fetal brain DHA in n-3 deficient embryos could be restored within 48 hours. Dietary manipulation of fetal tissues is a rapid phenomenon and can be used to enrich DHA at critical periods of development in utero.