Impact of dietary changes on retinal neuronal plasticity in rodent models of physical and psychological trauma

Blast injury has been implicated as the major cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and ocular system injury, in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers exposed to traumatic stress also have undiagnosed, chronic vision problems. Here we hypothesize that excessive intake of ω-6 fatty acid linoleic acid (LA) and insufficiency of dietary long chain ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs, e.g., docosahexaenoic acid; DHA) would dysregulate endocannabinoid-mediated neuronal plasticity and immune response. The study objective was to determine the effect of blast-TBI and traumatic stress on retinal gene expression and assess the role of dietary deficiency of long chain ω-3 PUFAs on the vulnerability to these injury models.