Prenatal docosahexaenoic acid supplementation has long-term effects on childhood behavioral and brain responses during performance on an inhibitory task

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Offsprings from a prenatal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation trial, in which pregnant women were assigned to placebo or 600mg DHA/day, were followed to determine the effect of prenatal DHA supplementation on the behavior and brain function at 5.5 years (n=81 placebo, n=86 supplemented).

Methods: Event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded during a visual task requiring a button press (Go) to frequent target stimuli and response inhibition to the rare stimuli (No-Go). Univariate ANOVAs were used to test differences between group and sex for behavioral measures. ERP differences were tested using a three-way mixed-design multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).

Results: There was a significant sex × group interaction for hit rate and errors of omission; there was no difference between males and females in the placebo group, but DHA males outperformed DHA females. Males overall and the placebo group made more errors requiring response inhibition; DHA females were significantly better than placebo females and DHA males. ERP P2 amplitude was larger in the DHA group. A significant N2 amplitude condition effect was observed in females and DHA group males, but not in placebo group males.

Discussion: Prenatal DHA supplementation improved inhibitory performance overall, especially for females in the DHA group, possibly accounting for their conservative behavior during Go trials. Development of brain regions responsible for visual processing may be sensitive to maternal DHA status, evidenced by greater P2 amplitude. Males may benefit more from maternal DHA supplementation, indicated by the N2 condition effect seen only in males in the DHA group.

KEYWORDS:

• Docosahexaenoic acid
• long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids
• prenatal nutrition
• event-related potentials
• brain
• attention
• inhibition
• developmental programing, clinical trial

Acknowledgements

Supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01 HD047315). The authors thank Lori Blank and Sara Macone for their expertise and assistance with data acquisition. The authors thank the families for their time and commitment to the long-term follow up of their children.

Disclosure statement

Gustafson, Liao, Mathis, Shaddy, Kerling, and Christfano declare no conflicts of interest with the study. Carlson and Colombo designed the parent and follow up studies that were funded by NICHD from 2006 to 2018. Both Carlson and Colombo have consulted and received honoraria from formula and ingredient companies that have a commercial interest in DHA.

Notes

* Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00266825 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00266825) and ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0248771 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02487771).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Eunice Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development under Grant R01 HD047315.

Notes on contributors

Kathleen M. Gustafson

Kathleen M. Gustafson, is an associate professor of Neurology, School of Medicine, and neurophysiology core director at the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center, KUMC

Ke Liao

Ke Liao, is senior scientist at the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center, KUMC

Nicole B. Mathis

Nicole Mathis, is a research associate in the Department of Neurology, Hoglund Brain Imaging Center, KUMC.

D. Jill Shaddy

D. Jill Shaddy, is a senior research associate in the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, School of Health Professions, KUMC.

Elizabeth H. Kerling

Elizabeth Kerling, is a senior research associate in the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, School of Health Professions, KUMC.

Danielle N. Christifano

Danielle Christifano, is a senior scientist at Hoglund Brain Imaging Center and an assistant professor in the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, School of Health Professions, KUMC.

John Colombo

John Colombo, is professor of Psychology and director of the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, KU.

Susan E. Carlson

Susan Carlson, is university distinguished professor and the AJ Rice professor of nutrition in the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, School of Health Professions, KUMC.