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  • Title: Effects of an oil enriched in gamma linolenic acid on locomotor activity and behaviour in the Morris Maze, following in utero ethanol exposure in rats.
    Author: Duffy O, Ménez JF, Leonard BE.
    Journal: Drug Alcohol Depend; 1992 Apr; 30(1):65-70. PubMed ID: 1317288.
    Abstract:
    Ethanol is known to decrease the quantity of polyunsaturated fatty acids in brain membranes possibly as the repercussion of an inhibition of delta-5- and delta-6-desaturases. Consequently behavioural changes may occur. Evening Primrose Oil (EPO) which is rich in gamma linolenic acid (10% 8:3 (n-6)) was proposed to try to circumvent these deleterious effects of ethanol. An animal model of the foetal alcohol syndrome was used in which ethanol was administered throughout gestation and into the weaning period, in a milk diet. EPO was administered concurrently with ethanol to establish the effect of this essential fatty acid and ethanol on the animal's behaviour. Animals were tested at approximately 60 days of age for their responses in two different behavioural paradigms, i.e. the stressful memory task of the Morris Maze and the non-stressful activity monitor. In this study we report an increase in learning ability in male (Control-EPO and alcohol-EPO versus their control: P less than 0.00001 and P less than 0.01, respectively) and female rats (Control-EPO and alcohol-EPO versus control: P less than 0.0001 and P less than 0.00001, respectively) after administration of EPO. It was also found that ethanol plus EPO administration consistently raised the activity scores of the rats in the activity monitor (daytime activity scores for male and female rats were P less than 0.00001 and P less than 0.0001, respectively), while ethanol alone decreased the scores (male and female rats P less than 0.00001 and P less than 0.01, respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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