Arachidonic acid drives postnatal neurogenesis and elicits a beneficial effect on prepulse inhibition, a biological trait of psychiatric illnesses.
Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is a compelling endophenotype (biological markers) for mental disorders including schizophrenia. In a previous study, we identified Fabp7, a fatty acid binding protein 7 as one of the genes controlling PPI in mice and showed that this gene was associated with schizophrenia. We also demonstrated that disrupting Fabp7 dampened hippocampal neurogenesis. In this study, we examined a link between neurogenesis and PPI using different animal models and exploring the possibility of postnatal manipulation of neurogenesis affecting PPI, since gene-deficient mice show biological disturbances from prenatal stages. In parallel, we tested the potential for dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), arachidonic acid (ARA) and/or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), to promote neurogenesis and improve PPI. PUFAs are ligands for Fabp members and are abundantly expressed in neural stem/progenitor cells in the hippocampus. Our results are: (1) an independent model animal, Pax6 (+/-) rats, exhibited PPI deficits along with impaired postnatal neurogenesis; (2) methylazoxymethanol acetate (an anti-proliferative drug) elicited decreased neurogenesis even in postnatal period, and PPI defects in young adult rats (10 weeks) when the drug was given at the juvenile stage (4-5 weeks); (3) administering ARA for 4 weeks after birth promoted neurogenesis in wild type rats; (4) raising Pax6 (+/-) pups on an ARA-containing diet enhanced neurogenesis and partially improved PPI in adult animals. These results suggest the potential benefit of ARA in ameliorating PPI deficits relevant to psychiatric disorders and suggest that the effect may be correlated with augmented postnatal neurogenesis.
Department of Developmental Neurobiology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Motoko
M
Maekawa
Noriko
N
Takashima
Miho
M
Matsumata
Shiro
S
Ikegami
Masanori
M
Kontani
Yoshinobu
Y
Hara
Hiroshi
H
Kawashima
Yuji
Y
Owada
Yoshinobu
Y
Kiso
Takeo
T
Yoshikawa
Kaoru
K
Inokuchi
Noriko
N
Osumi
D000818:Animals; D016718:Arachidonic Acid / Q000502:physiology*; D000071438:Fatty Acid-Binding Protein 7; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000254:growth & development; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D055495:Neurogenesis; D051381:Rats
C490174:Fabp7 protein, rat; D000071438:Fatty Acid-Binding Protein 7; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D016718:Arachidonic Acid