Dietary docosahexaenoic acid modulates hippocampal development in mouse

Abstract

Dietary docosahexaenoic acid modulates hippocampal development in the mousePhosphatidyl‐N‐methyl transferase (PEMT) catalyzes the biosynthesis of phosphatidyl choline (PtdCho), and prefers incorporation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) into PtdCho. We previously reported that the PEMT knock out mouse has altered hippocampal development. The present study explores if changes in membrane DHA species of PtdCho mediate the observed effects on brain development. Timed pregnant CBL57 wild type (WT) mice and PEMT knock‐out (KO) mice were kept on control diet. A subgroup of dams, were given DHA, from embryonic day E11 to E17.Brains of fetuses collected on E17 were processed for immunohistochemistry. Results show increased neural progenitor cell proliferation in the ventricular lining of the developing hippocampus in fetuses from WT dams (92± 29 mitotic cells in DHA treated vs 33±11on control diet, p<0.05), but no change seen in calretenin expressing neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG). In addition, while fetuses of KO dams versus WT dams on control diet showed increased cell proliferation (144± 21 mitotic cells in KO vs 33±11 in WT, p<0.001), fetuses of KO dams on DHA diet did not.In addition, fetuses from KO dams on DHA diet had increased calretenin neurons in DG (3± 0.4 mean optical density in DHA treated vs −0.1 ± 0.2 on control diet, p<0.05) while fetuses from WT dams on DHA diet did not. These data suggest that, maternal dietary DHA, and PEMT‐mediated PtdCho‐DHA in brain can alter hippocampal development.