• Jucélia Jeremias Fortunato, Naiana da Rosa, Ana Olívia Martins Laurentino, Marina Goulart, Camila Michalak, Lidiane Pinto Borges, Evandro da Cruz Cittadin Soares, Patricia Alves Reis, Hugo Caire de Castro Faria Neto, and Fabrícia Petronilho.
• Neurobiology Laboratory of Inflammatory and Metabolic Processes (NeuroIMet), Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, University of Southern Santa Catarina, Tubarão, Santa Catarina, Brazil; Clinical Research Center, Nossa Senhora da Conceição Hospital and the University of Southern Santa Catarina, Tubarão, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Electronic address: Jucelia.fortunato@unisul.br.
• Nutrition. 2017 Mar 1; 35: 119-127.

ObjectiveSupplementation with ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can positively contribute to neurologic development, modulating inflammatory responses, promoting homeostasis, and having a positive effect on animal behaviors associated with mental disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate behavioral and biochemical effects of ω-3 fatty acid supplementation in an animal model for mental disorders by prenatal maternal exposure to lipopolysaccardies (LPS) from the maternal immune activation.MethodsTwelve pregnant Wistar rats were used. Each rat received 100 μg/kg of LPS or saline solution on gestational day (GD) 9.5. The offspring remained with mothers until weaning and from postnatal day (PND) 30 were supplemented with ω-3 PUFA or saline solution by gavage at a dose of 0.8 g/kg orally for 21 d. On PND 52, the animals underwent behavioral tests; then, they were sacrificed, and the brain structures were dissected and analyzed by levels: neuron-specific enolase (NSE), brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β.ResultPrenatal exposure to LPS significantly increased the episodes of stereotyped movements and decreased social interaction in the offspring (P = 0.009 and P = 0.001, respectively), after ω-3 PUFA supplementation these parameters reversed (P = 0.005 and P = 0.013, respectively). Significant changes also were identified in the biochemical analysis in NSE and TGF-β in the brain structures; these conditions were reversed after ω-3 PUFA supplementation.ConclusionSupplementation with ω-3 PUFA reversed animal behaviors that often are observed in autism and other mental disorders in rats prenatally exposed to LPS, and also exerted neuroprotective effects in marker levels of neuronal damage and expression of TGF-β.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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