4.2.3. Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune pathology leading to demyelination and dramatic alteration of central and peripheral nervous systems.

The cuprizone mouse presents a massive demyelination and is a validate model of MS. When cuprizone mice were fed with DHA + EPA (15 g/kg for 5 weeks), myelin integrity was improved, and behavioral deficits were reduced (better scores on the Morris water maze test and with the rotarod test). The authors measured iNOS and CD16 expression, as well as CD206, YM1/2, and Arg1. They found that supplementation with n-3 PUFA suppressed the increase of M1-associated genes but increased the expression of M2-related genes [24].

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is another commonly used model for MS. Mancera et al. have shown that feeding EAE mice with DHA (250 mg/kg/day, 15 days before EAE induction and 41 days after EAE induction) with the triglyceride form of the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (TG-DHA) significantly improved the clinical score in a dose and time dependent manner, along with weight profile [29]. A recent study concluded that EAE onset and severity were reduced when mice were fed with a DHA diet (phospholipid-DHA, 0.3% or 1%, and triacylglycerol-DHA, 0.3%), compared to mice fed with low α-linolenic acid [42].
