Perinatal dietary omega-3 fatty acid deficiency reduces maternal nurturing behavior in rats: dissociation from elevated pro-inflammatory signaling.

Maternal-pup nurturing behavior has previously been shown to impact offspring neurodevelopment independent of diet. Here we investigated the effects of perinatal maternal n-3 fatty acid deficiency on maternal-pup nurturing behavior and potential associations with pro-inflammatory signaling. Eight-week-old virgin female Long-Evans hooded rats were randomized to a control diet containing alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3n-3) (CON,  = 10) or an ALA-free diet (Deficient, DEF,  = 11) 30 d prior to mating. On postnatal day 2 (P2) litters were culled to eight per dam. On P3, P6, and P9 dams and their litters were video recorded and maternal nurturing behaviors, including licking/grooming of pups and arched-back nursing, were scored by a blinded rater. Following weaning on P21, dam postmortem central (prefrontal cortex, PFC) and peripheral (red blood cell, RBC) fatty acid composition and central (PFC IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, TNFα, cPLA, COX-2 mRNA) and peripheral (plasma IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, TNFα, CRP) pro-inflammatory biostatus assessed. DEF dams exhibited significantly lower RBC ( ≤ 0.0001) and PFC ( ≤ 0.0001) docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels compared with CON dams. Irrespective of diet dams exhibited significantly lower RBC, but not PFC, DHA levels compared with non-parous rats. DEF dams exhibited less licking/grooming ( = 0.008), arched-back nursing ( ≤ 0.0001) and blanket nursing ( = 0.003), and exhibited more passive nursing ( = 0.003) but not time off pups ( = 0.1), compared with CON dams. PFC and plasma inflammatory measures did not differ significantly between groups. Perinatal dietary n-3 fatty acid deficiency reduces maternal nurturing behavior and this effect is not associated with enduring elevations in pro-inflammatory signaling.