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Ophthalmology
MARCH 27, 2023
“Dietary LPC-DHA is enormously superior to TAG-DHA in enriching retinal DHA and could be potentially beneficial for various retinopathies in patients,” said Sugasini Dhavamani, a research assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “This approach provides a novel therapeutic approach for the prevention or mitigation of retinal dysfunction associated with Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.”
Dhavamani will present the research at Discover BMB, the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, March 25–28 in Seattle.
While boosting DHA can help to prevent such declines, increasing retinal DHA content has been challenging with currently available supplements. For a dietary supplement to deliver DHA to the retina, the DHA must be able to first be absorbed from the intestine into the bloodstream and then cross from the bloodstream into the retina.
“Increasing the retinal DHA at clinically feasible doses has not been possible until now because of the specificity of the blood-retinal barrier that is incompatible with the specificity of the intestinal barrier,” said Dhavamani. “This study uses the novel approach of dietary LPC-DHA that overcomes both intestinal and blood-retinal barriers and improves retinal function.”
The researchers tested their LPC-DHA supplement in mice bred to exhibit processes similar to those found in early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. After six months, mice that were fed LPC-DHA daily showed a 96% improvement in retinal DHA content as well as preserved retinal structure and function. In contrast, TAG-DHA supplements had no effect on retinal DHA levels or function.
The results suggest that LPC-DHA supplements could help to prevent Alzheimer’s-related declines in visual function. Researchers say the approach should also be helpful for other disorders in which DHA deficiency and vision impairment are common.
The dosage of LPC-DHA used in the study is equivalent to about 250 to 500 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids per day in humans. Since these studies were conducted in mice, further studies would be needed to confirm that LPC-DHA is safe and effective for use in humans.