Here is yet another amazing scientific discovery of the miracles of Omega-3:
A study was done by the Neuroscience Centre, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, St. Bartholomew’s and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 2AT, United Kingdom on spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a cause of major neurological disability, and no satisfactory treatment is currently available. Evidence suggests that polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) could target some of the pathological mechanisms that underlie damage after SCI.
However, the type of PUFAs used in the experiment had very different outcomes.
The w-3 PUFAs -linolenic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) injected 30 min after injury induced significantly improved locomotor performance and neuroprotection, including decreased lesion size and apoptosis and increased neuronal and oligodendrocyte survival. Evidence showing a decrease in RNA/DNA oxidation suggests that the neuroprotective effect of w-3 PUFAs involved a significant antioxidant function.
In contrast, animals treated with arachidonic acid, an w-6 PUFA, had a significantly worse outcome than controls. We confirmed the neuroprotective effect of w-3 PUFAs by examining the effects of DHA treatment after spinal cord compression injury. Results indicated that DHA administered 30 min after spinal cord compression not only greatly increased survival of neurons but also resulted in significantly better locomotor performance for up to 6 weeks after injury.
Dr. Sears has written in his book Enter the Zone that arachidonic acid is so deadly that when injected into the bloodstream of rabbits, they die within minutes, so it only makes sense that the rats treated with the arachidonic acid had a worse outcome.
The outcome of the experiment on SCI is very dramatic:
This report shows a striking difference in efficacy between the effects of treatment with w-3 and w-6 PUFAs on the outcome of SCI, with w-3 PUFAs being neuroprotective and w-6 PUFAs having a damaging effect. Given the proven clinical safety of w-3 PUFAs, our observations show that these PUFAs have significant therapeutic potential in SCI. In contrast, the use of preparations enriched in w-6 PUFAs after injury could worsen outcome after SCI.
Perhaps the rats produced too many bad eicosanoids when treated with the w-6 PUFAs as opposed to good eicosanoids when treated with the w-3 PUFAs and this also had a profound effect on the outcome of the experiment?
Note: An Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio of 1:1 is strongly recommended.
Source: Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury
Tags: Fatty Acids