title: Dietary trans fatty acids combined with a marginal essential fatty acid status during the pre- and postnatal periods do not affect growth or brain fatty acids but may alter behavioral development in B6D2F(2) mice.
abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate whether dietary trans fatty acids (TFA) during the pre- and postnatal periods would exacerbate the effects of marginal essential fatty acid (EFA) status on growth, brain long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) and behavioral development in B6D2F(2) mice. Pregnant B6D2F(1) females were randomly assigned to one of the following three diets: marginal EFA plus 22% trans 18:1 (mEFA + TFA); marginal EFA (mEFA); and control (CON). The total 18:1 content in all diets was similar. The offspring were weaned and maintained on the same diets. Both the mEFA and mEFA + TFA groups had reduced growth and brain weight compared with CON, but did not differ from one another. As expected, the mEFA and mEFA + TFA groups had reduced docosahexaenoic acid [DHA; 22:6(n-3)]) and increased 22:5(n-6) concentrations in brain phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) compared with the CON group, but again did not differ from one another. Reversal learning in the T-water maze was significantly slower in the mEFA + TFA groups compared with the mEFA group and both were slower than the CON group. These findings illustrate that TFA combined with a marginal EFA status do not exacerbate the effects of marginal EFA status on growth or brain LC-PUFA. However, long-term effects of dietary TFA during the pre- and postnatal period on behavioral development and neural function should be investigated in future studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Studies and Gerontology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1.
authors.forename: I P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Wauben
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McCutcheon
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Wainwright
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D001835:Body Weight; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D004032:Diet; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D005228:Fatty Acids, Essential / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D051379:Mice; D009929:Organ Size; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D005228:Fatty Acids, Essential