A comparative study of the effects of phosphatidylserine rich in DHA and EPA on Aβ-induced Alzheimer's disease using cell models

Food Funct. 2021 May 21;12(10):4411-4423. doi: 10.1039/d1fo00286d. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-dependent, irreversible neurodegenerative disease, and one of the pathological features is amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition. Previous studies have shown that phosphatidylserine (PS) enriched with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) exhibited significant effects in preventing and alleviating the progress of AD. However, no studies have focused on the differences in the preventive effects on AD between EPA-PS and DHA-PS. Here, the effects of EPA-PS and DHA-PS on Aβ production, Aβ-induced neurotoxicity and Aβ clearance have been studied. The results show that DHA-PS significantly reduced Aβ production in CHO-APP/PS1 cells compared to EPA-PS. Moreover, both EPA-PS and DHA-PS significantly protected the primary hippocampal neurons against Aβ-induced toxicity by inhibiting the mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathway and phosphorylation of JNK and p38. Compared to DHA-PS, EPA-PS administration significantly improved the Aβ phagocytic capacity of BV2 cells. In addition, EPA-PS and DHA-PS significantly promoted the neurite outgrowth of primary hippocampal neurons. These findings might provide dietary guidance for the prevention of AD as well as a reference for the development of related functional foods.

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / chemically induced
  • Alzheimer Disease / drug therapy*
  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / adverse effects*
  • Animals
  • CHO Cells
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Cricetulus
  • Docosahexaenoic Acids / pharmacology*
  • Docosahexaenoic Acids / therapeutic use
  • Eicosapentaenoic Acid / analogs & derivatives
  • Eicosapentaenoic Acid / pharmacology*
  • Eicosapentaenoic Acid / therapeutic use
  • Hippocampus / drug effects
  • Liposomes
  • Neurons / drug effects
  • Phosphatidylserines / pharmacology*
  • Phosphatidylserines / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Liposomes
  • Phosphatidylserines
  • Docosahexaenoic Acids
  • eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester
  • Eicosapentaenoic Acid