Fish Oil Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Fish Oil, including details on omega-3, dosage, health benefits, diet.

Eicosapentaenoic acid confers neuroprotection in the amyloid-beta challenged aged hippocampus.

Lynch AM, Loane DJ, Minogue AM, Clarke RM, Kilroy D, Nally RE, Roche OJ, O'Connell F, Lynch MA

Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Physiology Department, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Among the changes that occur in the hippocampus with age, is a deficit in long-term potentiation (LTP). This impairment is associated with inflammatory changes, which are typified by increased concentration of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta). Activated microglia are the most likely cell source of IL-1beta, but data demonstrating an age-related increase in microglial activation is equivocal. Here we demonstrate that the age-related deficit in LTP is accompanied by increased expression of cell surface markers of activated microglia (major histocompatibility complex II and CD40) and increased IL-1beta production, and that these changes may be stimulated by interferon-gamma. Treatment of aged rats with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) attenuates these changes and we suggest that IL-4 mediates the action of EPA. We demonstrate that aged rats exhibit an exaggerated response to intracerebroventricular injection of beta-amyloid peptide 1-40 (Abeta). Thus Abeta inhibited LTP in aged, but not young, rats and induced a further increase in hippocampal IL-1beta concentration. Of particular significance is the demonstration that EPA protects the aged brain so that the increased vulnerability to Abeta is ameliorated in EPA-treated rats.

Published 23 April 2007 in Neurobiol Aging, 28(6): 845-55.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Fish Oil Research Today. All Rights Reserved.