Dietary cis-fatty acids that increase protein F1 phosphorylation enhance spatial memory.
Activation of protein kinase C (PKC) facilitates long-term potentiation (LTP), a model of memory, and increases its substrate protein F1 (aka GAP43) phosphorylation in direct relation to synaptic enhancement. Unsaturated fatty acids (c-FAs) which activate purified PKC, when injected into hippocampus, enhance LTP. To determine if dietary c-FAs could alter memory itself as well as brain PKC substrate (F1) metabolism, rats were maintained for 10 weeks on fatty acid diets enriched in mono-unsaturated oleic acid (OA; 20% olive oil, w/w), or a mono- and di-unsaturated mixture of oleate/linoleate (O/L; 20% corn oil), or a saturated fatty acid diet of laurate/myristate (L/M; 20% hydrogenated coconut oil). The O/L diet group was superior to the OA and L/M groups in spatial memory performance after the first two weeks of acquisition and in later achievement of criterion performance. The O/L diet had a significantly higher hippocampal protein F1 in vitro phosphorylation than in both the OA and L/M in trained and non-trained animals. Significantly, animals that made fewer errors showed higher F1 phosphorylation (r = -0.70). Diet both increases brain PKC substrate phosphorylation and enhances maze learning, confirming the feasibility of enhancing learning and memory by dietary regimens derived from basic neurochemical studies of synaptic plasticity.
Wong
K L
KL
Cresap Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208.
Murakami
K
K
Routtenberg
A
A
D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000502:physiology; D019922:GAP-43 Protein; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013037:Spatial Behavior
D005227:Fatty Acids; D019922:GAP-43 Protein; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins