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Arachidonic Acid Drives Postnatal Neurogenesis and Elicits a Beneficial Effect on Prepulse Inhibition, a Biological Trait of Psychiatric Illnesses

Overview of attention for article published in PLOS ONE, April 2009
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Title
Arachidonic Acid Drives Postnatal Neurogenesis and Elicits a Beneficial Effect on Prepulse Inhibition, a Biological Trait of Psychiatric Illnesses
Published in
PLOS ONE, April 2009
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0005085
Pubmed ID
Authors

Motoko Maekawa, Noriko Takashima, Miho Matsumata, Shiro Ikegami, Masanori Kontani, Yoshinobu Hara, Hiroshi Kawashima, Yuji Owada, Yoshinobu Kiso, Takeo Yoshikawa, Kaoru Inokuchi, Noriko Osumi

Abstract

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is a compelling endophenotype (biological markers) for mental disorders including schizophrenia. In a previous study, we identified Fabp7, a fatty acid binding protein 7 as one of the genes controlling PPI in mice and showed that this gene was associated with schizophrenia. We also demonstrated that disrupting Fabp7 dampened hippocampal neurogenesis. In this study, we examined a link between neurogenesis and PPI using different animal models and exploring the possibility of postnatal manipulation of neurogenesis affecting PPI, since gene-deficient mice show biological disturbances from prenatal stages. In parallel, we tested the potential for dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), arachidonic acid (ARA) and/or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), to promote neurogenesis and improve PPI. PUFAs are ligands for Fabp members and are abundantly expressed in neural stem/progenitor cells in the hippocampus. Our results are: (1) an independent model animal, Pax6 (+/-) rats, exhibited PPI deficits along with impaired postnatal neurogenesis; (2) methylazoxymethanol acetate (an anti-proliferative drug) elicited decreased neurogenesis even in postnatal period, and PPI defects in young adult rats (10 weeks) when the drug was given at the juvenile stage (4-5 weeks); (3) administering ARA for 4 weeks after birth promoted neurogenesis in wild type rats; (4) raising Pax6 (+/-) pups on an ARA-containing diet enhanced neurogenesis and partially improved PPI in adult animals. These results suggest the potential benefit of ARA in ameliorating PPI deficits relevant to psychiatric disorders and suggest that the effect may be correlated with augmented postnatal neurogenesis.

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Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Japan 3 4%
United Kingdom 1 1%
France 1 1%
Denmark 1 1%
United States 1 1%
Unknown 78 92%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 23 27%
Student > Ph. D. Student 14 16%
Student > Master 7 8%
Professor 7 8%
Student > Bachelor 7 8%
Other 17 20%
Unknown 10 12%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 27 32%
Neuroscience 13 15%
Medicine and Dentistry 13 15%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 11 13%
Psychology 5 6%
Other 3 4%
Unknown 13 15%