Fatty acid composition of the brain of intrauterine growth retardation rats and the effect of maternal docosahexaenoic acid enriched diet.

AIM

To determine whether the intrauterine environment affects lipid metabolism, we measured the fatty acid composition of the brain in rats with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) induced by synthetic thromboxane A2 (STA2). Additionally, we evaluated the effect of maternal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-enriched diet.

METHODS

Two experimental diets were provided: soy bean oil and DHA-enriched diets. Maternal rats were divided randomly into three groups, STA2-/Soy (Sham), STA2+/Soy (IUGR), and STA2+/DHA (DHA) groups. The Sham and IUGR groups were fed the soy diet, and the DHA group received the DHA-enriched diet from embryonic day 7 until delivery. On postnatal days 1 and 7, the pups were weighed and their brains were removed for lipid analysis.

RESULTS

The body weight of the IUGR and DHA groups was significantly less than that of the Sham group both on the postnatal days 1 and 7, whereas it was not significantly different between the IUGR and DHA groups either on postnatal day 1 or day 7. There was no significant difference in the percentage of DHA between the Sham and IUGR groups either on postnatal day 1 or 7. On the other hand, the percentage of DHA was higher in the DHA group than in the IUGR group both on the postnatal days 1 and 7.

CONCLUSIONS

The fatty acid composition in the brain was not altered in the STA2-induced IUGR rat model. Increased DHA percentage was observed in the maternal DHA-enriched diet group, although no beneficial effect on body weight gain was observed.