Challenges to determining whether DHA can protect against age-related cognitive decline

Marie Hennebelle (1) , Emilie Harbeby (2) , Sébastien Tremblay (3) , Raphael Chouinard-Watkins (3) , Fabien Pifferi (4) , Mélanie Plourde (3) , Philippe Guesnet (5) , Stephen C. Cunnane (3)

1 Research Center on Aging
2 Laboratoire de nutrition et sécurité alimentaire
3 UdeS - Université de Sherbrooke
4 MECADEV - Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution
5 PG Consulting

DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, is an important constituent of brain membranes and has a key role in brain development and function. This review aims to highlight recent research on DHA's role during age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. Animal and in vitro studies have provided some interesting mechanistic leads, especially on brain glucose metabolism, that may be involved in neuroprotection by DHA. However, results from human studies are more mitigated, perhaps due to changing DHA metabolism during aging. Recent innovative tools such as C-13-DHA for metabolic studies and C-11-DHA for PET provide interesting opportunities to study factors that affect DHA homeostasis during aging and to better understand whether and how to use DHA to delay or treat Alzheimer's disease.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Marie Hennebelle, Emilie Harbeby, Sébastien Tremblay, Raphael Chouinard-Watkins, Fabien Pifferi, et al.. Challenges to determining whether DHA can protect against age-related cognitive decline. Journal of clinical lipidology, 2015, 10 (1), pp.91-102. ⟨10.2217/CLP.14.61⟩. ⟨hal-02635338⟩