Perinatal supplementation of egg yolk plus docosahexaenoic acid alters the functional organization of the brain in offspring
Authors: Dubrof Stephanie T. , Zukaitis Jillien G. , Ahmed Ishfaque , Su Wenwu , Scheulin Kelly M. , Fang Xi , Jeon Julie , Zhao Qun , West Franklin D. , Park Hea Jin 
Published: May 2022

Background

Maternal diet plays a role in brain growth and development of offspring during the early stages of life. Egg yolk (EGG) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are known to benefit cognitive development in fetuses and infants. Importantly, potential synergisms have been suggested between EGG and DHA on neurofunction through modulating oxidative stress in the brain. In this study, we examined perinatal supplementation of EGG plus DHA on brain anatomical and functional organization of offspring using a translational piglet model.

Methods

Pregnant sows were fed a control diet (n=6), a diet containing egg yolk powder (EGG, n=5, 350 mg egg yolk powder/kg BW/day, equivalent to ~3 large eggs per day for human), a diet containing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, n=6, 75 mg DHA/kg BW/day), or a diet containing egg yolk powder plus DHA (EGG plus DHA, n=5) from late gestation throughout lactation. At weaning, offspring from sows (n=2 per sow, total n=44) underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to acquire anatomical, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and resting‐state functional MRI. All work in this study was conducted in accordance with the University of Georgia Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee guidelines.

Results

DTI analysis showed that maternal supplementation of EGG plus DHA increased white matter fiber length (p=0.0195) and decreased mean diffusivity (p=0.000625) in the hippocampus of offspring compared to the control diet. Interestingly, EGG or DHA alone did not alter white matter fiber length (p>0.05), and only DHA alone decreased mean diffusivity but to a lesser extent than the combination of EGG and DHA. This data suggests a potential synergism of maternal intake of EGG and DHA on hippocampal cellularity and white matter growth in offspring. Moreover, piglets from sows fed EGG plus DHA exhibited increased functional connectivity in the cerebellar network (p=0.03) compared to piglets from control group. EGG or DHA alone did not result in significant differences in the cerebellar network compared to control diet (p>0.05). EGG plus DHA did not alter (p>0.05) other functional networks identified in the study such as the executive control, visual, sensorimotor, auditory, default, salience and basal ganglia network. Maternal supplementation of EGG or DHA during late gestation and lactation did not correlate with significant volume change in nineteen brain regions examined in offspring.

Conclusion

The results of this study demonstrate that perinatal supplementation of egg yolk combined with docosahexaenoic acid synergistically enhanced hippocampal cellularity and white matter growth as well as cerebellar network activity in offspring at weaning. These findings suggest that further investigation of the brain development, cognitive and behavioral effects of maternal supplementation of egg yolk with docosahexaenoic acid on offspring is warranted.