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A Possible Essential Role for Dietary Linolenic Acid in the Development of the Young Rat

Department of Nutrition, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, NIG 2W1, Canada

Female rats were fed semi-purified diets containing 10% safflower oil or 10% soybean oil for six weeks prior to mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation. The progeny were weaned to the diet of the dam. Physical, neuromotor and reflex development was monitored in the progeny prior to weaning and learning ability of the mature progeny was assessed in a simple Y-maze test. Brain lipid analyses were conducted in the progeny at birth, 21 and 210 days of age. Inclusion of soybean oil in the diet resulted in higher levels of 22:63 and lower levels of 22:56 in the brain ethanolamine glycerophosphatides. The nature of the dietary fat exerted no effect on the physical development, onset of reflexologic responses or onset of neuromotor co-ordination in the pups. The soybean oil-fed animals spent more time in certain neuromotor activities possibly associated with explorative drive than did their safflower oil-fed counterparts. The performance of the mature soybean oil-fed progeny in the discrimination-learning test was superior to that of progeny fed safflower oil. The association of superior learning capacity with dietary soybean oil-induced incorporation of 3 fatty acids into the brain glycerophosphatides is offered as support for an essential role for dietary linolenic acid for the young rat.

KEY WORDS: • linolenic acid • essential fatty acids • brain lipids • physical development • neuromotor development • learning behavior

Manuscript received 16 May 1975.

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