PUFA supplementation rescues multiple fat-3(wa22) pleiotropic defects.

Survival on P. aeruginosa PA14, adult lifespan, resistance to aldicarb exposure (a measure of neurotransmission), as well as defecation and locomotion of fat-3(wa22) and wild-type animals supplemented with dietary PUFAs compared to unsupplemented wild-type animals. PA14 survival is reported as mean time to death for each treatment relative to unsupplemented wild-type (mutant TDmean / wild-type TDmean). Lifespan analysis is reported as mean time to death. Data from aldicarb analyses are reported as mean time to paralysis within the population tested. Statistical analyses for these three assays were performed using a Kaplan Meier non-parametric comparison and a Logrank test. For each analysis, a minimum of three independent experiments were performed, each consisting of approximately 120 worms. Analysis of defecation frequency is depicted as the average interval between successive posterior body contractions (pBoc) and data is shown as mean��SD. of the interval. Locomotion was assayed as number of body bends in liquid media over a period of two minutes [42], and depicted as average number of body bends per minute. Data for defecation and locomotion were analyzed by Student's t-test. In all cases, *, p��0.001 compared to untreated wild-type worms. Abbreviations: AA, arachidonic acid; ALA, alpha-linolenic acid; EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid; GLA, gamma-linolenic acid; SDA, stearidonic acid.