(P18-013-23) Effect of Perinatal Dietary Supplementation on Brain Development in Offspring

Objectives: Maternal nutritional status plays a role in early brain development in offspring. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is known for its role in neurocognition, and egg yolks (EGG) contain various compounds beneficial for neurodevelopment. Both DHA and EGG are recommended during the perinatal period due to the potential benefits on brain development of offspring. We investigated the impact of perinatal intake of DHA or EGG on the markers of brain function of offspring in a pig model, focusing on the hippocampus region, which is vital for learning, memory and spatial navigation.

Methods: Sows (n=16) were fed a diet containing EGG (350mg/kg BW/day), DHA (75mg DHA/kg BW/day) or control from late gestation to lactation. At weaning, the hippocampus of male piglets (n=2/sow) was stained with immunohistochemical markers of brain function including NeuN, doublecortin (DCX), Oligodendrocyte transcription factor (Oligo2), Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and Ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1).

Results: The expression of hippocampal NeuN was decreased following DHA (CA1 and CA3) or EGG (CA1, CA3 and DG) supplementation. The expression of DCX was increased in EGG (CA3), while it was decreased in DHA (CA1 and DG). DHA also increased GFAP (CA1). Moreover, we found that EGG or DHA activate specific functional networks in the piglet brains such as sensorimotor network (SMN), salience network (SN) or basal ganglia network (BGN) compared to control (unpublished). The activity of specific network was correlated with these markers such as SMN and NeuN (CA1; p=0.0462, r=0.4893, CA3; p=0.0150, r=0.5785, DG; p=0.0203, r=0.5567), SN and Oligo2 (CA3; p=0.0303, r=-0.5254, DG; p=0.0066, r=-0.6311), BGN and GFAP (CA1; p=0.0009, r=-0.7285, DG; p=0.0069, r=-0.6288), or BGN and DCX (CA1, p=0.0400, r=0.5021, CA3; p=0.0173, r=0.5684).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that nutritional manipulation during the perinatal period may alter the expression of proteins related with brain function and further influence functional connectivity of male offspring at weaning.

Funding Sources: The study was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture (2020-67017-30839), the Egg Nutrition Center, and the Georgia Experimental Agricultural Station (HATCH, #GEO001002).