REVERSAL OF BRAIN ESSENTIAL FATTY-ACID DEFICIENCY IN THE RAT BY DIETARY LINOLEATE, LINOLENATE AND ARACHIDONATE

Nineteen day old rats were fed on an essential fatty-acid diet for 18 wk, thereby making them essential fatty-acid deficient for at least 5 wk. Their brain weights were 20.2% less than those of rats on control diet. When deficient rats were rehabilitated for 5 wk on a diet supplemented with either linoleate, linolenate or arachidonate, their brain weights were 94.3, 88.5 and 92.3% of the control value. Essential fatty-acid deficiency was characterized by a large reduction in the proportions of cerebrosides, sphingomyelin and the essential fatty acids and a high increase in the proportion of eicosatrienoic acid (20:3). Rehabilitation for 5 wk on a diet supplemented with essential fatty acids reversed these changes in brain composition. Linoleate and arachidonate possess full activity while linoleate possesses only partial activity in reversing essential fatty-acid deficiency syndrome in rat brain.