Introduction:
Lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) was found to be decreased in plasma in the early phase of resuscitation after cardiac arrest (CA), including a species containing docosahexaenoic acid (LPC-DHA). Supplementing this deficiency of plasma LPC-DHA post-CA significantly attenuated brain dysfunction implicating a causative role of plasma decreased LPC-DHA for brain injury. Previous studies showed the importance of LPC-DHA as a carrier of DHA to maintain proper brain function. However, the role of LPC-DHA for brain function has not been fully understood.
Objective:
This study is aimed at determining the importance of maintaining proper brain LPC-DHA level via plasma supplementation to prevent brain damage after CA using human patients, animal model, and
in-vitro
cell studies.
Methods and Results:
We first evaluated associations between the plasma LPC-DHA levels and neurological outcomes using 45 post-CA patients. We then measured LPC-DHA levels and histological, biochemical, metabolic alterations in the plasma and brain after 10 min CA rat model and examined how these alterations were attenuated by supplementing LPC-DHA. Finally, we further investigated the beneficial effect of LPC-DHA using cell cultures. We found that the decreased plasma LPC-DHA was strongly associated with neurological outcomes and disappearance of difference between gray and white matter in the brain after CA in human patients. In rats, the decreased plasma LPC-DHA was associated with decreased level of brain LPC-DHA after CA, and supplementing plasma LPC-DHA normalized the brain levels of LPC-DHA and alleviated neuronal cell death, activation of astrocyte, and expression of various inflammatory and mitochondrial dysfunction genes. We also found normalized overall metabolic alterations from the untargeted metabolomics analysis. Furthermore, LPC treatment showed a similar protective effect for neurons and astrocytes in mixed primary brain cell cultures.
Conclusion:
The attenuation of biochemical and physiologic alterations, and the normalization of decreased brain LPC-DHA post-CA with LPC-DHA supplementation demonstrate plasma LPC-DHA is important for the maintenance of proper brain LPC-DHA levels, which is essential for preventing brain damage post-CA.
The Role of High-Fat Diets in Exacerbating Cognitive Deficits After Traumatic Brain Injury
