Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Repurposing Opportunities for Cognition and Biobehavioral Disturbances in MCI and Dementia.

Neurodegenerative diseases may directly affect memory performance, thus leading to functional impairments. An increasing body of evidence suggests an association between dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids and memory functioning in animal models as well as in human studies. Recent evidence supports a potential beneficial role of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on psychopathological and cognitive symptoms, beside their established positive effects on cardiovascular health. OBJECTIVE: We summarize relevant and recent evidence from epidemiological, interventional and experimental studies investigating dietary consumption of omega-3 fatty acids and emphazing mechanisms of memory disorders, with a focus on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. Omega-3 fatty acid could represent an affordable and accessible adjunctive treatment option to improve cognitive and non-cognitive function with a focus on MCI or dementia. However, apart from its translational promise, which is based on mechanistic models and evidence from animal studies, evidence for clinical benefits in humans is lacking. METHOD: To follow this research question, a search through electronic databases for the following search terms to identify relevant studies was conducted: 'omega 3 fatty acids', 'cognition', 'memory', ´Alzheimer´s Disease ´, ´dementia´, ´MCI`. Studies were included if they presented original data and were published in English between 1990 and 2015. RESULTS: To our the best of our knowledge, there are only 8 interventional studies that investigated the effects of n3-PUFAs in dementia patients, while 6 studies were conducted in healthy individuals, which in combination show equivocal results. CONCLUSION: This verifies the need for larger and (more) well designed clinical trials.

Age-Related Effects of the Apolipoprotein E Gene on Brain Function.

The apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ɛ4 allele is a well-established genetic risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's disease. Some evidence suggests a negative role of the ApoE ɛ4 allele for cognitive performance in late life, while beneficial effects on cognition have been shown in young age. We investigated age-related effects of the ApoE gene on brain function by assessing cognitive performance, as well as functional activation patterns during retrieval of Face-Name pairs in a group of young (n = 50; age 26.4±4.6 years, 25 ɛ4 carriers) and old (n = 40; age 66.1±7.0 years, 20 ɛ4 carriers) participants. A cross-sectional factorial design was used to examine the effects of age, ApoE genotype, and their interaction on both cognitive performance and the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) brain response during retrieval of Face-Name pairs. While there were no genotype-related differences in cognitive performance, we found a significant interaction of age and ApoE genotype on task-related activation bilaterally in anterior cingulate gyrus and superior frontal gyrus, as well as left and right insula. Old age was associated with increased activity in ɛ4 carriers. The increased BOLD response in old ɛ4 carriers during retrieval could indicate a neurocognitive disadvantage associated with the ɛ4 allele with increasing age. Furthermore, recruitment of neuronal resources resulted in enhanced memory performance in young ɛ4 carriers, pointing to a better neurofunctional capacity associated with the ApoE4 genotype in young age.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Novel Neurotherapeutic Targets for Cognitive Dysfunction in Mood Disorders and Schizophrenia?

An increasing body of evidences from preclinical as well as epidemiological and clinical studies suggest a potential beneficial role of dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids for cognitive functioning. In this narrative review, we will summarize and discuss recent findings from epidemiological, interventional and experimental studies linking dietary consumption of omega-3 fatty acids to cognitive function in healthy adults. Furthermore, affective disorders and schizophrenia (SZ) are characterized by cognitive dysfunction encompassing several domains. Cognitive dysfunction is closely related to impaired functioning and quality of life across these conditions. Therefore, the current review focues on the potential influence of omega-3 fatty acids on cognition in SZ and affective disorders. In sum, current data predominantly from mechanistic models and animal studies suggest that adjunctive omega-3 fatty acid supplementation could lead to improved cognitive functioning in SZ and affective disorders. However, besides its translational promise, evidence for clinical benefits in humans has been mixed. Notwithstanding evidences indicate that adjunctive omega-3 fatty acids may have benefit for affective symptoms in both unipolar and bipolar depression, to date no randomized controlled trial had evaluated omega-3 as cognitive enhancer for mood disorders, while a single published controlled trial suggested no therapeutic benefit for cognitive improvement in SZ. Considering the pleiotropic mechanisms of action of omega-3 fatty acids, the design of well-designed controlled trials of omega-3 supplementation as a novel, domain-specific, target for cognitive impairment in SZ and affective disorders is warranted.

Recognition memory is associated with altered resting-state functional connectivity in people at genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease.

The apolipoprotein E ε4 (ApoE ε4) allele not only represents the strongest single genetic risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's disease, but also imposes independent effects on brain function in healthy individuals where it has been shown to promote subtle memory deficits and altered intrinsic functional brain network connectivity. Based on previous work showing a potential relevance of the default mode network (DMN) functional connectivity for episodic memory function, we hypothesized that the ApoE ε4 genotype would affect memory performance via modulation of the DMN. We assessed 63 healthy individuals (50-80 years old), of which 20 carried the ε4 allele. All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), high-resolution 3D anatomical MRI imaging and neuropsychological assessment. Functional connectivity analysis of resting-state activity was performed with a predefined seed region located in the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), a core region of the DMN. ApoE ε4 carriers performed significantly poorer than non-carriers in wordlist recognition and cued recall. Furthermore, ε4 carriers showed increased connectivity relative to ε4 non-carriers between the PCC seed region and left-hemispheric middle temporal gyrus (MTG). There was a positive correlation between recognition memory scores and resting-state connectivity in the left MTG in ε4 carriers. These results can be interpreted as compensatory mechanisms strengthening the cross-links between DMN core areas and cortical areas involved in memory processing.