Deficiency of Dietary Omega-3 May Explain Depressive Behaviors
Date: 2.2.2011
How maternal essential fatty acid deficiency impact on its progeny is poorly understood. Dietary insufficiency in omega-3 fatty acid has been implicated in many disorders. Researchers from Inserm and INRA and their collaborators in Spain collaboration, have studied mice fed on a diet low in omega-3 fatty acid. They discovered that reduced levels of omega-3 had deleterious consequences on synaptic functions and emotional behaviours.
Details of this work are available in the online version of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
In conclusion, the authors estimate that their results provide the first biological components of an explanation for the observed correlation between omega-3 poor diets, which are very widespread in the industrialized world, and mood disorders such as depression.
Original Paper:
Mathieu Lafourcade, Thomas Larrieu, Susana Mato, Anais Duffaud, Marja Sepers, Isabelle Matias, Veronique De Smedt-Peyrusse, Virginie F Labrousse, Lionel Bretillon, Carlos Matute, Rafael Rodríguez-Puertas, Sophie Layé, Olivier J Manzoni. Nutritional omega-3 deficiency abolishes endocannabinoid-mediated neuronal functions. Nature Neuroscience, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/nn.2736
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