During my Masters in 1987, I started my research on the effect of fish oil on hypercholesterolemic rats. Afterwards, my research in Japan focused on lipid nutrition emphasizing the effect of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6, omeag-3) and its precursor eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5, omeag-3) on hypertension, platelet aggregation, membrane-fluidity, brain oxidative stress and memory-related learning ability of rats. During my postdoctoral program, I prepared amyloid beta peptide (Abeat1-40)-infused Alzheimer’s disease (AD) model rats, and investigated whether oral administration of DHA affected the memory-deficits of the AD rats. Remarkably, normal brain retains the highest concentration of DHA, suggesting that brain functions might rely on this DHA in a unique way. DHA ameliorated the impairments of memory in AD rats, by increasing the anti-oxidative defense, expressions of synaptic plasticity-related proteins, decreasing the brain burdens of A-peptides, and by a host of other mechanisms. Furthermore, DHA inhibited in vitro A-oligomerization, A-fibrillation and Abeta-induced neuronal cell degeneration. DHA ameliorated the memory of AD rats. Our epidemiological studies also revealed that consumption of DHA reduces the risk of mild cognitive impairment, a condition associated with later progression to AD.
In Bangladesh, I have been working on PD model rats, and on toxicology.

ORCID ID

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2970-2324

Reviewer Keywords