RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acids Modulate Large-Scale Systems Organization in the Rhesus Macaque Brain
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 2065
OP 2074
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3038-13.2014
VO 34
IS 6
A1 Grayson, David S.
A1 Kroenke, Christopher D.
A1 Neuringer, Martha
A1 Fair, Damien A.
YR 2014
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/6/2065.abstract
AB Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for healthy brain and retinal development and have been implicated in a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders. This study used resting-state functional connectivity MRI to define the large-scale organization of the rhesus macaque brain and changes associated with differences in lifetime ω-3 fatty acid intake. Monkeys fed docosahexaenoic acid, the long-chain ω-3 fatty acid abundant in neural membranes, had cortical modular organization resembling the healthy human brain. In contrast, those with low levels of dietary ω-3 fatty acids had decreased functional connectivity within the early visual pathway and throughout higher-order associational cortex and showed impairment of distributed cortical networks. Our findings illustrate the similarity in modular cortical organization between the healthy human and macaque brain and support the notion that ω-3 fatty acids play a crucial role in developing and/or maintaining distributed, large-scale brain systems, including those essential for normal cognitive function.