Neonatal Department, Imperial College London, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital London, UK; Lipid laboratory, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital campus, London, UK.
F Med Sci, Perinatal Neuroimaging Unit, King's College London, UK.
Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2018 Nov;138:6-13. doi: 10.1016/j.plefa.2018.09.001. Epub 2018 Sep 21.
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ArA) are essential brain specific fatty acids (BSFA) for mammalian central nervous system development. Human brains have accelerated growth with significant increase in cerebral content of ArA and DHA during the last trimester of pregnancy and first postnatal months. This randomized double blind placebo controlled single centre trial assessed the impact of BSFA supplementation in pregnancy on newborn infants' brain volumes. Eighty six infants born to study mothers had brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans soon after birth. Total and regional brain volumes were analyzed and related to maternal supplementation group. Males born to the BSFA supplemented mothers had significantly larger total brain volumes, total gray matter, corpus callosum and cortical volumes when compared to the placebo group. This is the first study to show maternal BSFA supplementation enhances newborn infants' brain size and suggests differential sex sensitivity of fetal brains to pregnancy BSFA status.
二十二碳六烯酸(DHA)和花生四烯酸(ArA)是哺乳动物中枢神经系统发育所必需的脑特异性脂肪酸(BSFA)。在妊娠最后三个月和出生后第一个月,人类大脑生长迅速,大脑中 ArA 和 DHA 的含量显著增加。这项随机、双盲、安慰剂对照的单中心试验评估了妊娠期间 BSFA 补充对新生儿脑容量的影响。研究母亲所生的 86 名婴儿在出生后不久接受了脑磁共振成像(MRI)扫描。分析了总脑容量和区域脑容量,并与母亲补充组相关联。与安慰剂组相比,补充 BSFA 的母亲所生的男性婴儿的总脑容量、总灰质、胼胝体和皮质体积明显更大。这是第一项表明母体 BSFA 补充可增加新生儿脑容量的研究,并提示胎儿大脑对妊娠 BSFA 状态的性别敏感性存在差异。