Prenatal High-Fat Diet Rescues Communication Deficits in < b > < i > Fmr1 < /i > < /b > Mutant Mice in a Sex-Specific Manner

Using high-throughput analysis methods, the present study sought to determine the impact of prenatal high-fat dietary manipulations on isolation-induced ultrasonic vocalization production in both male and femaleFmr1mutants on postnatal day 9. Prior to breeding, male FVB/129Fmr1 wildtype and femaleFmr1 heterozygous breeding pairs were assigned to 1 of 3 diet conditions: standard lab chow, omega-3 fatty acid-enriched chow, and a diet controlling for the fat increase. Prenatal exposure to omega-3 fatty acids improved reductions in the number of calls produced byFmr1heterozygotes females. Moreover, diminished spectral purity in the femaleFmr1homozygous mouse was rescued by exposure to both high-fat diets, although these effects were not seen in the maleFmr1knockout. Prenatal dietary fat manipulation also influenced several other aspects of vocalization production, such as the number of calls produced and their fundamental frequency, aside from effects due to loss ofFmr1.Specifically, in males, regardless of genotype, prenatal exposure to high omega-3s increased the average fundamental frequency of calls. These data support the need for future preclinical and clinical work elucidating the full potential of prenatal high-fat diets as a novel therapeutic alternative forFragile X syndrome.Dev Neurosci

Source: Developmental Neuroscience - January 4, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research