Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids enhance cerebral angiogenesis and provide long-term protection after stroke.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids enhance cerebral angiogenesis and provide long-term protection after stroke. Neurobiol Dis. 2014 Apr 29; Authors: Wang J, Shi Y, Zhang L, Zhang F, Hu X, Zhang W, Leak RK, Gao Y, Chen L, Chen J Abstract Stroke is a devastating neurological disorder and one of the leading causes of death and serious disability. After cerebral ischemia, revascularization in the ischemic boundary zone provides nutritive blood flow as well as various growth factors to promote the survival and activity of neurons and neural progenitor cells. Enhancement of angiogenesis and the resulting improvement of cerebral microcirculation are key restorative mechanisms and represent an important therapeutic strategy for ischemic stroke. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that post-stroke angiogenesis would be enhanced by omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs), a major component of dietary fish oil. To this end, we found that transgenic fat-1 mice that overproduce n-3 PUFAs exhibited long-term behavioral and histological protection against transient focal cerebral ischemia (tFCI). Importantly, fat-1 transgenic mice also exhibited robust improvements in revascularization and angiogenesis compared to wild type littermates, suggesting a potential role for n-3 fatty acids in post-stroke cerebrovascular remodeling. Mechanistically, n-3 PUFAs induced upregulation of angiopoietin 2 (Ang 2) in astrocytes after tFCI and s...
Source: Neurobiology of Disease - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Neurobiol Dis Source Type: research