Chronic ω-3 fatty acids supplementation promotes beneficial effects on anxiety, cognitive and depressive-like behaviors in rats subjected to a restraint stress protocol.

Recent evidence has demonstrated dietary influence on the manifestation of different types of behaviors induced by stressor tasks. The present study examined the impact of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) supplementation in an early phase of the brain development with the goal of preventing or even attenuating the occurrence of stress-related behaviors such as depressive-like behaviors, anxiety and cognitive dysfunctions in male rats subjected to restraint stress. Our results indicated that the supplementation regimen successfully counteracted the anxiogenic effects of stress as evidenced by the rats' increased exploration time in the aversive arms of the elevated plus maze.