ReviewAlzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association2008
Oral administration of circulating precursors for membrane phosphatides can promote the synthesis of new brain synapses.
Review in Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 92 citations in OpenAlex.
- Souvenaid for Alzheimer's disease.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Neurodegenerative Diseases: New Evidence in Clinical Trials.International journal of molecular sciences · 2019Pooled it
- Omega-3 fatty acids for the treatment of dementia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- The medical food Souvenaid affects brain phospholipid metabolism in mild Alzheimer's disease: results from a randomized controlled trial.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2017Trial
- Effects of Souvenaid on plasma micronutrient levels and fatty acid profiles in mild and mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2015Trial
- Trial
- Phospholipids from herring roe improve plasma lipids and glucose tolerance in healthy, young adults.Lipids in health and disease · 2014Trial
- Efficacy of a medical food on cognition in Alzheimer's disease: results from secondary analyses of a randomized, controlled trial.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2011Trial
- Effect of a medical food on body mass index and activities of daily living in patients with Alzheimer's disease: secondary analyses from a randomized, controlled trial.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2011Trial
- Effects of UMP, Choline, and Fish Oil on Synaptic Integrity and Motor Coordination in an Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Resolving cognitive heterogeneity in white matter hyperintensities through integrated analyses of microbiome, metabolome, and brain glymphatic function.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Maternal choline supplementation in neurodevelopmental disorders: mechanistic insights from animal models and future directions.Nutritional neuroscience · 2025Review
- The Protective Effect of Docosahexaenoic Acid on Mitochondria in SH-SY5Y Model of Rotenone-Induced Toxicity.Metabolites · 2025Article
- Article
- Lipids and Secretory Vesicle Exocytosis.Advances in neurobiology · 2023Article
- Citicoline: pharmacological and clinical review, 2022 update.Revista de neurologia · 2022Review
- Feeding the Brain: Effect of Nutrients on Cognition, Synaptic Function, and AMPA Receptors.Nutrients · 2022Review
- Marine n-3 fatty acids and cognitive change among older adults in the VITAL randomized trial.Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.) · 2022Article
- Role of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in human nutrition and health: review of recent studies and recommendations.Nutrition research and practice · 2021Review
- Docosahexaenoic Acid Increases the Potency of Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Inhibitor in Alleviating Streptozotocin-Induced Alzheimer's Disease-Like Complications of Diabetes.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Although cognitive performance in humans and experimental animals can be improved by administering omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the neurochemical mechanisms underlying this effect remain uncertain. In general, nutrients or drugs that modify brain function or behavior do so by affecting synaptic transmission, usually by changing the quantities of particular neurotransmitters present within synaptic clefts or by acting directly on neurotransmitter receptors or signal-transduction molecules. We find that DHA also affects synaptic transmission in mammalian brain. Brain cells of gerbils or rats receiving this fatty acid manifest increased levels of phosphatides and of specific presynaptic or postsynaptic proteins. They also exhibit increased numbers of dendritic spines on postsynaptic neurons. These actions are markedly enhanced in animals that have also received the other two circulating precursors for phosphatidylcholine, uridine (which gives rise to brain uridine diphosphate and cytidine triphosphate) and choline (which gives rise to phosphocholine). The actions of DHA aere reproduced by eicosapentaenoic acid, another omega-3 compound, but not by omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid. Administration of circulating phosphatide precursors can also increase neurotransmitter release (acetylcholine, dopamine) and affect animal behavior. Conceivably, this treatment might have use in patients with the synaptic loss that characterizes Alzheimer's disease or other neurodegenerative diseases or occurs after stroke or brain injury.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.