Abstract
It has been known for many years that mammalian brains are rich in lipid. In the early 1960s, shortly after the development of gas-liquid chromatography, it was reported that the human brain gray matter phospholipids contained a high proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (O’Brien and Sampson, 1965). Within a decade, it had been shown that the types and proportions of PUFA in the gray matter of 25 different mammalian species were very similar (Crawford and Sinclair, 1972; Sinclair, 1975; Crawford et al., 1976). In these studies, it was revealed that in all species the gray matter was rich in lipid (approx 40%) and that this was largely structural lipid (phospholipids and cholesterol). In all cases, six main fatty acids comprised the brain gray matter phospholipids, with three being PUFA, namely arachidonic acid ([AA] or 20:4 [n-6]), docosatetraenoic acid (22:4 [n-6]), and docosahexaenoic acid ([DHA] or 22: 6 [n-3]). These PUFA were present in a characteristic pattern in each species with AA, 22:4 (n-6), and DHA accounting for 12.0, 6.3, and 22.0% of phospholipid fatty acids, respectively (mean value for 25 species). Subsequent analyses of retinal fatty acids, from a smaller number of mammals, has shown that the retinal phospholipid fatty acids are also rich in PUFA, with DHA being the predominant fatty acid (Fliesler and Anderson, 1982). In contrast to the brain and retina, there is a diverse pattern of PUFA in the phospholipids of other tissues, such as liver and muscle, probably reflecting the wide differences in intake of essential fatty acids between species (Crawford et al., 1976).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Benolken, R. M., Anderson, R. E., and Wheeler, T. (1973) Membrane fatty acids asso- ciated with the electrical response in visual excitation. Science 182, 1253, 1254.
Bourre, J. M., Francois, M., Youyou, A., Dumont, O., Piciotti, M., Pascal, G., and Durand, G. (1989) The effects of dietary a-linolenic acid on the composition of nerve membranes, enzymatic activity, amplitude of electrophysiological parameters, resistance to poisons and performance of learning tasks in rats. J. Nutr. 119, 1880–1892.
Brown, K. T. and Watanabe, K. (1965) Neural stage of adaptation between receptors and inner nuclear layer of the monkey retina. Science, 148, 1113–1115.
Brown, M. F. and Gibson, N. J. (1993) Biological function of docosahexaenoic acid in the retinal rod disk membrane, in Essential Fatty Acids and Eicosanoids ( Sinclair, A. J. and Gibson, R. A., eds.), American Oil Chemists’ Society, Champaign, IL, pp. 134–138.
Bush, R. A., Malnoe, A., Reme, C. E., and Williams, T. P. (1994) Dietary deficiency of n-3 fatty acids alters rhodopsin content and function in the rat retina. Inv. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 35, 91–100.
Connor, W. E., Neuringer, M., and Reisbeck, S. (1992) Essential fatty acids: the importance of n-3 fatty acids in the retina and brain. Nutr. Rev. 50, 21–29.
Crawford, M. A., Casperd, N. M., and Sinclair, A. J. (1976) The long chain metabolites of linoleic and linolenic acids in liver and brain in herbivores and carnivores. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 54B, 395–401.
Crawford, M. A. and Sinclair, A. J. (1972) Nutritional influences in the evolution of the mammalian brain, in CIBA Foundation Symposium on Lipids, Malnutrition and the Developing Brain ( Elliott, K. and Knight, J., eds.), Associated Scientific Publishers, Amsterdam, pp. 267–287.
Dratz, E. E. and Holte, L. L. (1993) The molecular spring model for the function of docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3) in biological membranes, in Essential Fatty Acids and Eicosanoids ( Sinclair, A. J. and Gibson R. A., eds.), American Oil Chemists’ Society, Champaign, IL, pp. 122–127.
Fliesler, S. J. and Anderson, R. E. (1982) Chemistry and metabolism of lipids in the vertebrate retina. Prog. Lipid Res. 22, 79–131.
Hood, D. C. and Birch, D. G. (1994) Rod phototransduction in retinitis pigmentosa: estimation and interpretation of parameters derived from the rod a-wave. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 35, 2948–2961.
Lamb, T. D. (1986) Transduction in vertebrate photoreceptors: the roles of cyclic GMP and calcium. Trends Neurochem. Sci. 9, 224–228.
Leat, W. M. F., Curtis, R., Millichamp, N. J., and Cox, R. W. (1986) Retinal function in rats and guinea pigs reared on diets low in essential fatty acids and supplemented with linoleic or linolenic acids. Ann. Nutr. Metab., 30, 166–174.
Nakashima, Y, Yuasa, S., Hukamizu, Y, Okuyama, H., Ohhara, T., Kameyama, T., and Nabeshima, T. (1993) Effect of a high linoleate and a high a-linolenate diet on general behaviour and drug sensitivity in mice. J. Lipid Res., 34, 239–247.
Neuringer, M., Connor, W. E., Lin, D. S., and Anderson, G. J. (1993) Effects of n-3 fatty acid deficiency on retinal physiology and function, in Essential Fatty Acids and Eicosanoids ( Sinclair, A. J. and Gibson, R. A., eds.), American Oil Chemists’ Society, Champaign, IL, pp. 161–164.
Neuringer, M., Connor, W. E., Lin, D. S., Barstad, L., and Luck, S. J. (1986) Biochemical and functional effects of prenatal and postnatal omega 3 fatty acid deficiency on retina and brain in rhesus monkeys. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 83, 4021–4025.
O’Brien, J. S. and Sampson, E. L. (1965) Fatty acid and aldehyde composition of the major brain lipids in normal gray matter, white matter and myelin. J. Lipid Res., 6, 545–551.
Poling, J. S., Karanian, J. W., Salem, N., and Vicini, S. (1993) Time- and voltage-dependent block of delayed rectifier potassium channels by docosahexaenoic acid. Mol. Pharmacol. 47, 381–390.
Sinclair, A. J. (1975) Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the mammalian brain. Proc. Nutr. Soc. 1975 34, 287–291.
Sinclair, A. J., O’Dea, K., Dunstan, G., Ireland, P. D., and Niall, M. (1987) Effects of plasma lipids and fatty acid composition of very low fat diets enriched with fish or kangaroo meat. Lipids 22, 523–529.
Sinclair A. J., Weisinger, H. S., and Vingrys, A. J. (1995) Deficiency of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the retina of chow-fed guinea pigs, in Nutrition, Lipids, Health and Disease ( Ong, A. S. H., Niki, E., and Packer L., eds), AOCS Press, Champaign, IL, pp. 225–229.
Stinson, A. M., Wiegand R. D., and Anderson, R. E. (1991) Recycling of docosahexaenoic acid in rat retinas during n-3 fatty acid deficiency. J. Lipid Res. 32, 2009–2017.
Stryer, L. (1986) The cyclic GMP cascade of vision. Ann. Rev. Neurosci. 9, 87–119.
Stubbs, C. D. (1993) The structure and function of docosahexaenoic acid in membranes, in Essential Fatty Acids and Eicosanoids ( Sinclair, A. J. and Gibson, R. A., eds.), American Oil Chemists’ Society, Champaign, IL, pp. 116–121.
Ward, G., Woods, J., Reyzer, M., and Salem, N. (1996) Artificial rearing of infant rats on milk formula deficient in n-3 essential fatty acids: a rapid method for the production of experimental n-3 deficiency. Lipids 31, 71–78.
Wainwright, P. (1993) Omega 3 fatty acids and animal behaviour, in Essential Fatty Acids and Eicosanoids ( Sinclair, A. J. and Gibson, R. A., eds.), American Oil Chemists’ Society, Champaign, IL, pp. 169–172.
Watanabe, I., Aonuma, H., Kaneko, S., and Okyama, H. (1993) Effect of a high linoleate and a high a-linolenate diet on size distribution of phagosomes in retinal pigment epithelium, in Advances in PUFA Research ( Yasugi, T., Nakamura, H., and Soma, M., eds.), Elsevier Science Publishers, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 269–272.
Weisinger, H. S., Vingrys, A. J., and Sinclair A. J. (1995) Dietary manipulation of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the retina and brain of guinea pigs. Lipids 30, 471–473.
Weisinger, H. S., Vingrys, A. J., and Sinclair A. J. (1996a) The effect of dietary n-3 deficiency on the electroretinogram in the guinea pig. Ann. Nutr. Metabol. 40, 91–98.
Weisinger, H. S., Vingrys, A. J., and Sinclair A. J. (1996b) The effect of docosahexaenoic acid on the electroretinogram of the guinea pig. Lipids 31, 65–70.
Wheeler, T., Benolken, R. M., and Anderson, R. E. (1975) Visual membranes: specificity of fatty acid precursors for the electrical response to illumination. Science 188, 1312–1314.
Yoshida, S., Yasuda, A., Kawasato, H., Sakai, K., Shimada, T., Takashita, M., Yuasa, S., Fukamizu, Y., and Okuyama, H. (1993) Ultrastructural study of hippocampus synapse in perilla and safflower oil-fed rats, in Advances in PUFA Research ( Yasugi, T., Nakamura, H., and Soma, M., eds.), Elsevier Science Publishers, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 265–268.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sinclair, A.J., Weisinger, H.S., Vingrys, A.J. (1997). Neural Function Following Dietary n-3 Fatty Acid Depletion. In: Yehuda, S., Mostofsky, D.I. (eds) Handbook of Essential Fatty Acid Biology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2582-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2582-7_9
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-017-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-2582-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive