Wainwright P E
Department of Health Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 1992 Summer;16(2):193-205. doi: 10.1016/s0149-7634(05)80180-0.
The membrane phospholipids of the brain contain high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), particularly arachidonic acid, 20:4n-6 and docosahexaenoic acid, 22:6n-3. These long-chain PUFA are synthesized from their respective essential fatty acid (EFA) precursors, linoleic acid, 18:2n-6 and linolenic acid, 18:3n-3. Although the necessity of n-6 fatty acids for optimum growth has been established, a similar requirement for those of the n-3 family is less clear. The rapid accumulation of the long-chain n-3 PUFA in the brain during prenatal and preweaning development suggests that the provision of n-3 fatty acids to the developing brain may be necessary for normal growth and functional development. The intent of this review is to assess the experimental work which addresses this question, most of which has been conducted on rodents. The emphasis will be on studies which measure behavioral outcomes, and particular attention will be paid to methodological issues which affect the interpretation of these data. An integration of the research findings will be presented and discussed in light of possible implications for therapeutic interventions.
大脑的膜磷脂含有高水平的多不饱和脂肪酸（PUFA），尤其是花生四烯酸（20:4n-6）和二十二碳六烯酸（22:6n-3）。这些长链多不饱和脂肪酸由它们各自的必需脂肪酸（EFA）前体合成，即亚油酸（18:2n-6）和亚麻酸（18:3n-3）。虽然已经确定了n-6脂肪酸对最佳生长的必要性，但n-3家族脂肪酸的类似需求尚不清楚。在产前和断奶前发育过程中，长链n-3多不饱和脂肪酸在大脑中的快速积累表明，为发育中的大脑提供n-3脂肪酸可能是正常生长和功能发育所必需的。本综述的目的是评估针对这一问题的实验工作，其中大部分是在啮齿动物身上进行的。重点将放在测量行为结果的研究上，并将特别关注影响这些数据解释的方法学问题。将根据对治疗干预的可能影响，对研究结果进行整合和讨论。
