Maternal DHA Supplementation Protects Rat Offspring against Impairment of Learning and Memory Following Prenatal Exposure to Valproic Acid

Docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3; DHA) is known to play a critical role in postnatal brain development. However, there have been no studies investigating the preventive effect of DHA on prenatal valproic acid (VPA) -induced behavioral and molecular alterations in offspring. The present study was to evaluate the neuroprotective effects in offspring using maternal feeding of DHA to rats exposed to VPA in pregnancy. In the present study, rats were exposed to VPA on day 12.5 of pregnancy; DHA was administered at the dosages of 100, 300 and 500 mg/kg/day for three weeks from day 1 to 21 of pregnancy.
Source: The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Source Type: research