Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Protect Neural Progenitor Cells against Oxidative Injury

Marine Drugs

Qiang Liu²  Di Wu²  Na Ni²  Huixia Ren²  Chuanming Luo²  Chengwei He²  Jing-Xuan Kang¹  Jian-Bo Wan² 

[1] Laboratory for Lipid Medicine and Technology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA; E-Mail:;State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao 999078, China; E-Mails:

关键词: oxidative stress;    DHA;    fat-1;    neural progenitor cells;   

DOI  :  10.3390/md12052341

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFAs), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), derived mainly from fish oil, play important roles in brain development and neuroplasticity. Here, we reported that application of ω-3 PUFAs significantly protected mouse neural progenitor cells (NPCs) against H₂O₂-induced oxidative injury. We also isolated NPCs from transgenic mice expressing the Caenorhabditis elegans fat-1 gene. The fat-1 gene, which is absent in mammals, can add a double bond into an unsaturated fatty acid hydrocarbon chain and convert ω-6 to ω-3 fatty acids. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining showed that a marked decrease in apoptotic cells was found in fat-1 NPCs after oxidative injury with H₂O₂ as compared with wild-type NPCs. Quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot analysis demonstrated a much higher expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a master transcriptional factor for antioxidant genes, in fat-1 NPCs. The results of the study provide evidence that ω-3 PUFAs resist oxidative injury to NPCs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.