n-3 fatty acids prevent impairment of neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity in B-cell activating factor (BAFF) transgenic mice.
OBJECTIVE
Autoimmune-prone B-cell activating factor transgenic mice, a mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren's syndrome exhibit neuroinflammation, anxiety-like phenotype, deficit in adult hippocampal neurogenesis and impaired neurogenesis-dependent and neurogenesis-independent dentate gyrus long-term potentiation. Given that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids regulate hippocampal plasticity and inflammatory responses, we investigated whether n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids-enriched diet might prevent age-dependent hippocampal changes in B-cell activating factor transgenic mice.


METHODS
B-cell activating factor transgenic mice were fed for 12 weeks with either n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids-enriched or control diet and we tested the effect of this dietary supplementation on hippocampal inflammation, progenitor cell proliferation and neurogenesis-dependent and neurogenesis-independent long-term potentiation.


RESULTS
Dietary supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids significantly decreased hippocampal microglial activation and increased the density of bromodeoxyuridine and doublecortin-positive newly-formed cells in the subventricular zone of hippocampus. Furthermore, B-cell activating factor transgenic mice fed with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids-enriched diet displayed normal long-term potentiation at the medial perforant pathway/dentate gyrus connections.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that n-3 fatty acids prevent neuroinflammation and deficits of hippocampal plasticity in B-cell activating factor transgenic mice and suggest that increased n-3 fatty acids intake might represent a potential therapeutic option to prevent neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with autoimmune diseases.
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, CUNY Medical School, New York, NY, USA.
Rosalia
R
Crupi
Marco
M
Cambiaghi
Richard
R
Deckelbaum
Inge
I
Hansen
Janet
J
Mindes
Edoardo
E
Spina
Fortunato
F
Battaglia
D000818:Animals; D053264:B-Cell Activating Factor / Q000187:drug effects*; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000187:drug effects*; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D013569:Synapses / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
D053264:B-Cell Activating Factor; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3