Fish oil found all over SfN 2013

Sometimes it’s nice to visit other areas of research to catch a little of what they are doing. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) isn’t exactly a million miles from SCI – both involve traumatic insults to the central nervous system tissue and can result in similar outcomes – but it can be good to observe similarities and differences in experimental design, therapeutic concepts and progress.

I’ve talked about fish oils before, specifically Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and Spinal Research has funded in the area too. The story of PUFAs actually began in major trauma and I came across a poster [presentation 147.18] today from a London-based group that examined the effect of an Omega-3 called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in mouse TBI model. They found that if DHA is administered very early after injury the cognitive outcomes are better – the mice showed a marked improvement in memory tests. Omega-3 fatty acids are thought to act as neuroprotectants – that is their presence in high levels protect neurons from cell death after injury.

What they found was that DHA also changed the response of astrocytes which are cells that react angrily to injury and lay down scar tissue amongst other things. This astrocytic response was not expected as they had not observed this in their studies of SCI.

A quick check for other mentions of fish oils and Omega-3 in the meeting abstracts found 25 papers dealing various aspects of Omega-3 action in fields such as Alzheimer’s, Autism, visual development, stroke, pain and drug abuse (including nicotine-craving).