n-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) deficiency elevates and n-3 PUFA enrichment reduces brain 2-arachidonoylglycerol level in mice.

2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) is a putative endogenous ligand for cannabinoid receptors and was suggested to play an important role in both physiological and pathological events in the central nervous system (CNS) as well as in peripheral organs. The sequential hydrolysis of arachidonic acid (20:4n-6, AA)-containing phospholipids has been proposed as a major biosynthetic route of 2-AG. On the other hand, the manipulation of the dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) status changes the AA level in tissue phospholipids. We, therefore, conducted two separate experiments to confirm whether the dietary n-3 PUFA status influences the 2-AG level in the mouse brain. In the first experiment, we fed mice with n-3 PUFA-deficient diet, which resulted in a marked decrease in the docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA) levels without a change in the AA level in brain phospholipids as compared with the mice fed with an n-3 PUFA-sufficient diet. The brain 2-AG level in the n-3 PUFA-deficient group was significantly higher than in the n-3 PUFA sufficient group. In the second experiment, we found that short-term supplementation of DHA-rich fish oil reduced brain 2-AG level as compared with the supplementation with low n-3 PUFA. The decrease in the AA level and the increase in the DHA level in the major phospholipids occurred in the brains of the mice fed the fish oil diet compared with those fed the low n-3 PUFA diet. Our results indicate that the n-3 PUFA deficiency elevates and n-3 PUFA enrichment reduces the brain 2-AG level in mice, suggesting that physiological and pathological events mediated by 2-AG through cannabinoid receptor in the CNS could be modified by the manipulation of the dietary n-3 PUFA status.