This study was to investigate the effects of dietary linoleic acid(18:2omega6, LA) and aipha-linolenic acid(18:3omega3. alpha-LNA) levels on brain development and fatty acid compositions of various lipid classes in the chicken embryo brain tissues. Thirty two ISA Brown layers, 52 weeks-old, were divided into four groups. Birds of each group were given corn-soybean meal based diets added with 1) safflower oil 8%, 2) safflower oil 6% + perilla oil 2%, 3) safflower oil 2% + perilla oil 6%, or 4) perilla oil 8%. Mter 15 days fed the diets. the layers were artificially inseminated to obtain fertile eggs. During the incubation. embryonic brains were sampled at 15th and 21st days. Fatty acid contents were quantitated by using heptadecanoic acid (17:0) as an internal standard. No significant differences in brain weight and in contents of various lipids such as phospholipid. triglyceride, cholesterol. cholesterol ester and free fatty acid in the tissues were found among the dietary groups (P<0.05). The ratios of AA/LA in the brain lipid classes were lowered as the dietary levels of perilla oil were increased. Higher LA was found in phosphatidylcholine(PC) than arachidonic acid (20:4omega6. AA), meanwhile the level of LA was less than AA in phosphatidylethanolamine(PE). Docosahexaenoic acid(22:6omega3, DHA) was the* major fatty acid in the tissue and its content in PE was 2.5~3 times higher than in PC. DHA level in the phospholipid reached at a peak (1.7~1.8 mg/brain) in dietary groups added with 6% or 8% perilla oil. suggesting that no more increase in that fatty acid level in the brain tissue could be obtained by consuming more alpha-LNA, the major precursor of DHA.