title: Polyunsaturated fatty acids induce ischemic and epileptic tolerance.
abstract: The findings reported in this work show that pretreatment with polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly linolenic acid, present in vegetable oils, can provide a potent tolerance against neurodegeneration in two models of neuronal death-generating treatments such as kainic acid injection and global ischemia. Rats were injected i.v. with 500 nmol/kg of linolenic acid as long as 3 days prior to 6 min global ischemia or received an injection of linolenic acid as long as 3 days prior to a dose of 7.5 mg/kg kainic acid. Neuronal degeneration, assessed by analysis of neuronal density on Cresyl Violet-stained hippocampal sections, was significantly reduced in linolenic acid-treated rats (94-85% of cell survival in the ischemic model and 99-79% of cell survival in the epileptic model in respective CA1 and CA3 subfields). The neuroprotection observed following the injection of linolenic acid 3 days prior to induction of a severe ischemic or epileptic challenge was associated with the induction of the neuroprotective HSP70 heat shock protein within the time window of protection. The injection of 500 nmol/kg of linolenic acid induced a maximal HSP70 expression of 387% at 72 h. In contrast, the overexpression of one well-known protein inducer of neuronal cell death, Bax, which is induced by both ischemic and kainic acid-induced epileptic insults, was prevented by linolenic acid in the 3-day window of protection. These results strengthen the idea of an interesting potential therapeutical value of polyunsaturated fatty acids in neuronal protection.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS, UMR6097, 660, route des Lucioles, Sophia Antipolis, 06560 Valbonne, France.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Blondeau
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Widmann
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lazdunski
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Heurteaux
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents