Nutritional modifiers of aging brain function: use of uridine and other phosphatide precursors to increase formation of brain synapses.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review of preclinical animal studies and mechanism-based reasoning
PubMed 21091953 · doi:10.1111/j.1753-4887.2010.00344.x
What was done
This narrative review summarizes research on brain phosphatide synthesis using three circulating nutritional precursors: docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), uridine, and choline. It reviews biochemical and morphological brain changes after oral administration of these precursors in experimental animal models.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical data. It qualitatively reports that oral administration of DHA, uridine, and choline to experimental animals increased brain phosphatide levels, synaptic protein levels overall and per cell, and the number of dendritic spines on hippocampal neurons. Arachidonic acid did not reproduce the effects of DHA.
Why it matters
It provides a mechanistic rationale for using specific nutritional precursors to support synaptic membrane formation in conditions involving synapse loss, such as Alzheimer's disease.
Limits
The reported evidence is limited to animal models with no human clinical data in the abstract. Quantitative measurements, sample sizes, and dosing regimens are omitted.
Cited by
- supports Richard Wurtman from MIT showed that synaptic formation nutritionally requires both DHA and citicoline.