Maternal Docosahexaenoic Acid Feeding Protects Against Impairment of Learning and Memory and Oxidative Stress in Prenatally Stressed Rats: Possible Role of Neuronal Mitochondria Metabolism

Maternal feeding of DHA significantly prevented prenatal stress-induced impairment of learning and memory and normalized the biomarkers of oxidative damage, apoptosis, and mitochondrial metabolism in the hippocampus of both male and female offspring. These results suggest that maternal feeding of DHA exerts preventive effects on prenatal stress-induced brain dysfunction and that modulation of mitochondrial metabolism may play critical role in DHA protection.