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Omega-3 fatty acids during adolescence prevent schizophrenia-related behavioural deficits: Neurophysiological evidences from the prenatal viral infection with PolyI:C.

M. Casquero-Veiga, D. Romero-Miguel, K. S. MacDowell, S. Torres-Sánchez, J. A. García-Partida, N. Lamanna-Rama, V. Gómez-Rangel, Ana Romero-Miranda et al.

European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2021

19 citations

Abstract

The likely involvement of inflammation and oxidative stress (IOS) in mental disease has led to advocate anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory drugs as therapeutic strategies in the treatment of schizophrenia. Since omega-3 fatty acids (ω-3) show anti-inflammatory/neuroprotective properties, we aim to evaluate whether ω-3 treatment during adolescence in the maternal immune stimulation (MIS) animal model of schizophrenia could prevent the brain and behavioural deficits described in adulthood. At gestational day 15, PolyI:C (4 mg/kg) or saline (VH) were injected to pregnant Wistar rats. Male offspring received ω-3 (800 mg/kg) or saline (Sal) daily from postnatal day (PND) 35-49, defining 4 groups: MIS-ω-3; MIS-Sal; VH-ω-3 and VH-Sal. At PND70, rats were submitted to prepulse inhibition test (PPI). FDG-PET and T2-weighted MRI brain studies were performed in adulthood and analyzed by means of SPM12. IOS markers were measured in selected brain areas. MIS-offspring showed a PPI deficit compared with VH-offspring and ω-3 treatment prevented this deficit. Also, ω-3 reduced the brain metabolism in the deep mesencephalic area and prevented the volumetric abnormalities in the hippocampus but not in the ventricles in MIS-offspring. Besides, ω-3 reduced the expression of iNOS and Keap1 and increased the activity/concentration of HO1, NQO1 and GPX. Our study demonstrates that administration of ω-3 during adolescence prevents PPI behavioural deficits and hippocampal volumetric abnormalities,…

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