Fatty acid metabolism changes in association with neurobehavioral deficits in animal models of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Authors

Hye Mee Hwang, Center for Neuroscience Research, The Children's Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
Yuka Imamura Kawasawa, Department of Pharmacology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
Aiesha Basha, Center for Neuroscience Research, The Children's Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
Shahid Mohammad, Center for Neuroscience Research, The Children's Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
Mariko Ito, Center for Neuroscience Research, The Children's Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
Kazue Hashimoto-Torii, Center for Neuroscience Research, The Children's Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA. khtorii@childrensnational.org.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

7-17-2023

Journal

Communications biology

Volume

6

Issue

1

DOI

10.1038/s42003-023-05127-z

Abstract

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) show behavioral problems due to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). A previous study reports changes in gene expressions linked to fatty acid (FA) metabolism in the cerebral cortex of the PAE mouse model. We find an increase of palmitic acid and arachidonic acid in phospholipid in the cerebral cortex of PAE at postnatal day 30. The increase of palmitic acid is consistent with increase of the producing enzyme, Fasn (fatty acid synthase). Decrease of 26:6 FA is also consistent with the increase of the enzyme which uses 26:6 as a substrate for making very long chain FAs, Elovl4 (elongation of very long chain fatty acids protein 4). However, there is no increase in the elongated products. Rather, lipid droplets (LDs) accumulated in the brain. Although FA-associated metabolic measurements are not affected by PAE, the abundance of FA-related gut microbiota is altered. This suggests that the gut microbiome could serve as a tool to facilitate uncovering the brain pathophysiology of FASD and a potential target to mitigate neurobehavioral problems.

APA Citation

Hwang, Hye Mee; Kawasawa, Yuka Imamura; Basha, Aiesha; Mohammad, Shahid; Ito, Mariko; and Hashimoto-Torii, Kazue, "Fatty acid metabolism changes in association with neurobehavioral deficits in animal models of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders" (2023). GW Authored Works. Paper 3066.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/3066

Department

Pediatrics