Fetal learning and memory: weak associations with the early essential polyunsaturated fatty acid status.

To study the potential associations between fetal brain functions and the early essential polyunsaturated fatty acid (ePUFA) status, fetal learning and memory were assessed by repeated habituation rate measurements (HR) in fetuses of 30, 32, 34 or 36 weeks gestational age (GA). HR tests were repeated 10 min later. Both measurements were replicated in a second session at GA 38. Fetal short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) were calculated from these habituation rates and related to concentrations of ePUFAs and their status markers, measured in umbilical artery wall phospholipids. The only relevant associations observed were positive trends (0.010