Omega-3s are essential nutrients for our good health and that of the adolescent brain, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal The Journal of Neuroscience. Deprived of these essential fatty acids, they could develop depressive behaviors and mental health disorders such as depression where the stress. These conclusions were obtained in mice.
Omega-3 deficiency decreases cognitive functions
Researchers from the Mediterranean Neurobiology Institute in Marseille and INRA in Bordeaux, France conducted a study with genetically modified mice lacking in omega-3 from adolescence to adulthood.
Scientists observed that adolescents fed a diet low in omega-3 reduced fatty acid levels in the prefrontal cortex (the active area for complex cognitive functions like decision making, executive control, reasoning) and also at the level of the nucleus accumbens (involved in the regulation of reward and emotions). This decrease in these essential fatty acids manifests itself in adulthood by anxiety-type behaviors and a decrease in cognitive functions.
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Researchers have identified that omega-3 deficient mice have two basic forms of neural learning (at synapses, areas of communication between neurons) that are altered in the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens.
But this modification would be reversible, because two solutions have shown their performance in completely restoring the brain functions of adult mice deficient in omega-3 and their emotional and cognitive behaviors.
“For that, it was enough for us to amplify the capacity of the receptor (mGlu5) of glutamate (the most important neurotransmitter of the central nervous system) at the level of neurons in order to re-establish exchanges, or to inhibit the degradation of the main cannabinoid naturally secreted by the brain and which control synaptic memory ”, explain the researchers at the head of the study, Olivier Manzoni and Sophie Layé.
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