title: Maternal arachidonic acid supplementation improves neurodevelopment of offspring from healthy and diabetic rats.
abstract: Maternal diabetes may compromise infant arachidonic acid status and development. This study tested if maternal arachidonic acid supplementation improves neurodevelopment in rat offspring. Dams were randomized into 6 groups using a 3x2 design: Saline-Placebo, streptozotocin-induced diabetes with glucose controlled at <13mmol/L, or poorly controlled at 13-20mmol/L using insulin; and fed either control or an arachidonic acid (0.5% of fat) diet throughout reproduction. Offspring were tested on post-natal days 3 and 5 for righting response, days 7 and 9 for negative geotaxis, day 14 for wire hanging endurance, days 18 and 24 for rota rod endurance, and day 28 for Morris water maze performance. Only the poorly controlled group had impaired day 7 geotaxis and day 18 rota rod performance (p<0.02), but this improved with maternal arachidonic acid supplementation (p<0.0006). Arachidonic acid improved the wire hanging endurance (p=0.0003) and water maze latency (p=0.0021), suggesting enhanced neurodevelopment in all offspring.
authors.affiliation: School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, 21, 111 Lakeshore Road, Ste. Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada H9X 3V9.
authors.forename: Jinping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Marc R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Del Bigio
authors.forename: Hope A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Weiler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000833:Animals, Suckling; D016718:Arachidonic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D008297:Male; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000187:drug effects; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D011254:Pregnancy in Diabetics / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013311:Streptozocin
chemical_list: D016718:Arachidonic Acid; D013311:Streptozocin