Trial reportNutritional neuroscience2016
Effects of fish oil supplementation on prefrontal metabolite concentrations in adolescents with major depressive disorder: a preliminary 1H MRS study.
Trial report in Nutritional neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Meta-Analysis of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Studies on Glutamatergic Neurometabolite Levels in Major Depressive Disorder.Depression and anxiety · 2025Pooled it
- Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation for depression in children and adolescents.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Amino Acid-Fatty Acid Profile as a Novel Predictive Method in the Assessment of Diagnosis and Treatment Efficacy of Anxiety-Related Disorders and Mood Disorders.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Higher Total Omega-3 PUFA Levels and a Lower Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio Are Associated with Lower Temporal Lobe Volume in Alzheimer's Disease.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- Neuroimaging as a Tool for Advancing Pediatric Psychopharmacology.Paediatric drugs · 2025Review
- Disturbance of neurotransmitter metabolism in drug-naïve, first-episode major depressive disorder: a comparative study on adult and adolescent cohorts.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2022Article
- Dietary Supplementations and Depression.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2022Review
- Improving Cognition with Nutraceuticals Targeting TGF-β1 Signaling.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Correlations Among mRNA Expression Levels of ATP7A, Serum Ceruloplasmin Levels, and Neuronal Metabolism in Unmedicated Major Depressive Disorder.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Article
- The Association between Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intake and Human Brain Connectivity in Middle-Aged Depressed Women.Nutrients · 2020Article
- Role of polyunsaturated fatty acids in human brain structure and function across the lifespan: An update on neuroimaging findings.Prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and essential fatty acids · 2018Review
- Antidepressant-Induced Activation in Children and Adolescents: Risk, Recognition and Management.Current problems in pediatric and adolescent health care · 2018Review
- Depression in patients with SAPHO syndrome and its relationship with brain activity and connectivity.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2017Article
- Polyunsaturated fatty acids and recurrent mood disorders: Phenomenology, mechanisms, and clinical application.Progress in lipid research · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo use proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H MRS) to investigate the effects of fish oil (FO) supplementation on cortical metabolite concentrations in adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD).
methodsMetabolite concentrations were determined by (1)H MRS in the anterior cingulate cortex and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of adolescents with MDD before and following 10-week open-label supplementation with low (2.4 g/day, n = 7) or high (16.2 g/day, n = 7) dose FO. Depressive symptom severity scores and erythrocyte fatty acid levels were also determined.
resultsBaseline erythrocyte eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) composition was positively correlated, and arachidonic acid (AA) and the AA/EPA ratio were inversely correlated, with choline (Cho) concentrations in the right DLPFC. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) composition was inversely correlated with myo-inositol (mI) concentrations in the left DLPFC. Erythrocyte EPA and DHA composition increased, and AA decreased, significantly following low-dose and high-dose FO supplementation. In the intent-to-treat sample, depressive symptom severity scores decreased significantly in the high-dose group (-40%, P < 0.0001) and there was a trend in the low-dose group (-20%, P = 0.06). There were no significant baseline-endpoint changes in metabolite levels in each voxel. In the low-dose group there were changes with large effect sizes, including a decrease in mI in the left DLPFC (-12%, P = 0.18, d = 0.8) and increases in glutamate + glutamine (Glx) (+12%, P = 0.19, d = 0.8) and Cho (+15%, P = 0.08, d = 1.2) in the right DLPFC. In the high-dose group, there was a trend for increases in Cho in the right DLPFC (+10%, P = 0.09, d = 1.2). DISCUSSION: These preliminary data suggest that increasing the LCn-3 fatty acid status of adolescent MDD patients is associated with subtle changes in Glx, mI, and Cho concentrations in the DLPFC that warrant further evaluation in a larger controlled trial.
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