Dietary supplementation with n-3 fatty acids from weaning limits brain biochemistry and behavioural changes elicited by prenatal exposure to maternal inflammation in the mouse model.

Prenatal exposure to maternal immune activation (MIA) increases the risk of schizophrenia and autism in the offspring…. The main findings were: (i) Adult MIA-exposed mice fed a standard diet had greater N-acetylaspartate/creatine (Cr) and lower myo-inositol/Cr levels in the cingulate cortex in vivo. (ii) The extent of these metabolite differences was correlated with impairment in prepulse inhibition. (iii) MIA-exposed mice on the control diet also had higher levels of anxiety and altered levels of GAD67 ex vivo. (iv) An n-3 PUFA diet prevented all the in vivo and ex vivo effects of MIA observed. Thus, n-3 PUFA dietary enrichment from early life may offer a relatively safe and non-toxic approach to limit the otherwise persistent behavioural and biochemical consequences of prenatal exposure to inflammation.

Abstract. Translational psychiatry 2015; 5():e641