Functional analysis of fatty acid binding proteins in the brain

研究表明，脂肪酸，尤其是二十二碳六烯酸和花生四烯酸，在包括学习和记忆功能在内的各种大脑功能中都很重要。脑型脂肪酸结合蛋白（Brain type-fatty acid binding protein, B—FABP）属于细胞内脂质结合蛋白家族。B-FABP与二十二碳六烯酸（DNA）具有较高的结合亲和力，其对学习和记忆功能的影响已被证实，并且定位于鼠类胚胎脑的心室生发细胞和成年脑的星形胶质细胞。本研究产生了B-FABP基因零突变的小鼠，基因敲除小鼠的表型分析显示出学习和记忆功能受损。以及大脑中DNA含量的下降，而大脑中没有发现任何组织学变化。此外，与野生小鼠相比，B-FABP突变小鼠离体海马神经元中NMDA受体介导的电流对DNA的反应显著降低。这些数据表明，胶质细胞中的B-FABP与众所周知的DHA对学习和记忆的影响密切相关。

It was shown that fatty acids, especially docosahexiaenoic acid and arachidonic acid, are important in the verious brain functions, including learning and memory functions. Brain type-fatty acid binding protein (B--FABP) belongs to a family of intracellular lipid binding proteins. B-FABP exhibits a higher binding affinity to docosahexaenoic acid (DNA) whose effect on learning and memory function has been documented, and it is localized in the ventricular germinal cells in embryonic brain and astroglia in adult brain of rodents. The present study generated mice harboring a null mutation in the B-FABP gene and the phenotype analysis of the gene-knockout mice exhibited the impaired learning, and memory function. and the decreased content of DNA in their brain without detection of any histological changes in the brain. Furthermore, the response of NMDA receptor-mediated current to DNA in isolated hippocampal neurons from the B-FABP mutant mice was significantly decreased in comparison with that of wild mice. These data indicate that B-FABP in the glia is intimately involved in the well-known effect of DHA on learning and memory.