Effect of Dietary Phospholipid on the Behavior in C57BL/6J Mice

Nowadays phospholipids are widely used as hepatoprotective,neuroprotective and anti-stress drugs, as well as the dietary supplements.Besides, lecithin consisting up to 70% of the phospholipids mixture: phosphatidylcholine,phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidicacid, is the often component of food production as an emulsifier.Dose of these biologically active substances in the modern humandiet could be quite high. Previously we have shown that chronicintestinal inflammation in Muc2-knockoutmice induces behavioral changes along with the significant increasein the content of phospholipids in intestinal epithelial cells,particularly, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidicacid. Here we investigate the effects of long-term administrationof a mixture of these phospholipids, as well as the effects of long-termadministration of soy lecithin on the behavioral patterns in laboratorymice. Animals long-term taken a phospholipid mixture shows no normallyobserved preference towards females in the two intruders test (withfemale and male). In the social odor preference test, they alsodid not distinguish female and male odors, while non-social odorsdiscrimination preserved. In addition, we identified a decreasein anxiety, obsessive traits, and schizophrenia-like behavior traitsin these animals. Soy lecithin supplementation had similar effectson social behavior and compulsive traits, and increased aggressionin males. Thus, long-term perinatal administration of either mixtureof phospholipids (phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidicacid) or soy lecithin can influence various aspects of behaviorin mice.