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Effect of Pre- and Postnatal Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency on Brain Development and Myelination^1,2,3,

Department of Chemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742

Pregnant mice were fed an essential fatty acid (EFA) deficient diet from day 1 of gestation. Several biochemical parameters of postnatal brain growth and myelination were measured on their progeny and compared with controls fed a normal diet containing 4% corn oil or a commercial breeder diet. Measurements of brain DNA, RNA and protein content of the EFA deficient mice suggested a retardation of brain growth and development of about 1 week compared to controls, with the most striking differences noted at ages below 15 days. DNA content of both control and experimental mice became comparable at 20 to 22 days but brain protein and RNA content remained lower in deficient mice at all ages studied. The levels of several myelin specific constituents were also measured in experimental and control brains. The brain galactolipid content was severely depressed at levels 21% of controls at 40 days of age. Proteolipid protein was also significantly reduced (23% of controls at 40 days of age). In contrast, the activity of the myelin marker enzyme, 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide-3'-phosphodiesterase, appeared to be totally unaffected by EFA deficiency. The results indicate that pre- and postnatal EFA deficiency results in a retardation of brain development and a profound reduction of some but not all myelin specific components.

KEY WORDS: • essential fatty acids • brain lipids • brain development • retardation • gestation • prenatal • pregnancy • myelination

¹ A preliminary report of this work has been premented at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Chicago, Illinois, April, 1977. McKenna, M. C. & Campagnoni, A. T. (1977) The effect of essential fatty acid deficiency on brain development and myelination. Federation Proc. 36, 1147 (Abstr.).

² From a dissertation to be submitted by M.C.M. to the University of Maryland Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree in Nutritional Sciences.

³ This paper represents Scientific Article No. A2464, Contribution No. 5495 of the Maryland Agriculture Experiment Station, College Park, Maryland. This work was supported in part by Biomedical Research Support Grant #RR07042 from the National Institutes of Health and the Maryland Agriculture Experiment Station.

Manuscript received 4 August 1978.