Affiliations: [a]
Amen Clinics Inc., Costa Mesa, CA, USA
| [b]
University of South Dakota School of Medicine, Vermillion, SD, USA
| [c]
UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| [d]
UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Daniel G. Amen, MD, Amen Clinics Inc., Costa Mesa, CA, USA. Tel.: +1 949 266 3771; Fax: +1 949 266 3743; E-mail: daniel@amenclinics.com.
Abstract: Background: The interrelationships between omega-3 fatty acids status, brain perfusion, and cognition are not well understood. Objective: To evaluate if SPECT brain imaging of cerebral perfusion and cognition varies as a function of omega-3 fatty acid levels. Methods: A random sample of 166 study participants was drawn from a psychiatric referral clinical for which erythrocyte quantification of omega-3 eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (the Omega-3 Index) was available. Quantitative brain SPECT was done on 128 regions based on a standard anatomical Atlas. Persons with erythrocyte EPA+DHA concentrations were dichotomized based on membership in top 50th percentile versus bottom 50th percentile categories. Two-sample t-tests were done to identify statistically significant differences in perfusion between the percentile groups. Partial correlations were modeled between EPA+DHA concentration and SPECT regions. Neurocognitive status was assessed using computerized testing (WebNeuro) and was separately correlated to cerebral perfusion on brain SPECT imaging and omega-3 EPA+DHA levels. Results: Partial correlation analyses showed statistically significant relationships between higher omega-3 levels and cerebral perfusion were in the right parahippocampal gyrus (r = 0.20, p = 0.03), right precuneus (r = 0.20, p = 0.03), and vermis subregion 6 (p = 0.21, p = 0.03). Omega-3 Index levels separately correlated to the feeling subsection of the WebNeuro (r = 0.25, p = 0.01). Conclusion: Quantitative omega-3 EPA+DHA erythrocyte concentrations are independently correlated with brain perfusion on SPECT imaging and neurocognitive tests. These results have implications for the role of omega-3 fatty acids toward contributing to cognitive reserve.
