The fatty acids of the human foetal brain.

Abstract

Hansen, Inge Berg & Clausen, J. The Fatty Acids of the Human Foetal Brain. Scand. J. clin. Lab. Invest. 22, 231-238, 1968.Brains from 18 human foetuses were analysed for relative composition of total major fatty acids, total phospholipids and the major fatty acids of lecithin, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidyl serine. The results were compared with the corresponding values for a group of infants and a group of adults. The results do not indicate any variation in fatty acid and phospholipid composition with foetal age within the period of the 9th to the 28th week of the gestation period; nor was it possible to demonstrate any topographic variation in these components when the brain was dissected into frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe and mesencephalon. The predominant fatty acids of the foetal brain were palmitic, stearic and oleic acid. The predominant fatty acids in foetal lecithin, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine were found to be palmitic, oleic and stearic acid respectively; in the adult brain oleic acid was dominant in all the three phospholipid fractions.Linolenic acid was found to be almost totally absent in the foetal and infant brain, whereas an average of 4.5 per cent of the total fatty acids was found in the adult brain. There was a significant decrease in the relative amount of arachidonic acid in the total lipid fraction as well as in the phosphatidylethanolamine fraction in the adult compared to the foetal brain. The results are discussed in terms of a possible relation between intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids during the period of myelination and disposition towards multiple sclerosis.