Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) protect against cardiovascular disease by largely unknown mechanisms. We tested the hypothesis that EPA and DHA may compete with arachidonic acid (AA) for the conversion by cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, resulting in the formation of alternative, physiologically active, metabolites. Renal and hepatic microsomes, as well as various CYP isoforms, displayed equal or elevated activities when metabolizing EPA or DHA instead of AA. CYP2C/2J isoforms converting AA to epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) preferentially epoxidized the -3 double bond and thereby produced 17,18-epoxyeicosatetraenoic (17,18-EEQ) and 19,20-epoxydocosapentaenoic acid (19,20-EDP) from EPA and DHA. We found that these -3 epoxides are highly active as antiarrhythmic agents, suppressing the Ca 2؉ -induced increased rate of spontaneous beating of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, at low nanomolar concentrations. CYP4A/4F isoforms -hydroxylating AA were less regioselective toward EPA and DHA, catalyzing predominantly -and minus 1 hydroxylation. Rats given dietary EPA/DHA supplementation exhibited substantial replacement of AA by EPA and DHA in membrane phospholipids in plasma, heart, kidney, liver, lung, and pancreas, with less pronounced changes in the brain. The changes in fatty acids were accompanied by concomitant changes in endogenous CYP metabolite profiles (e.g. altering the EET/EEQ/EDP ratio from 87:0:13 to 27:18:55 in the heart). These results demonstrate that CYP enzymes efficiently convert EPA and DHA to novel epoxy and hydroxy metabolites that could mediate some of the beneficial cardiovascular effects of dietary -3 fatty acids.

This article is available online at http://www.jlr.org Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes catalyze the formation of biologically active epoxy-and hydroxy-metabolites of long-chain PUFAs ( 1 ). Traditionally, and in line with the prevalence of n-6 PUFAs in the "Western diet", arachidonic acid (AA) (20:4 n-6) has been considered as the main precursor and the corresponding metabolites were categorized as a subclass of eicosanoids ( 2 ). CYP-eicosanoid formation is also known as the "third branch of the AA cascade," complementary to the previously discovered cyclooxygenase (COX)-and lipoxygenase (LOX)-initiated pathways of prostanoid and leukotriene formation ( 3, 4 ).Physiologically important AA-derived CYP-eicosanoids include a set of regio-and stereoisomeric epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) and 20-HETE ( 2, 5 ). EETs and 20-HETE play partially opposing roles in the regulation of vascular, renal, and cardiac function ( 6-9 ). The contribution of EETs to cardiovascular function is infl uenced by the soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) that metabolizes EETs to less potent dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acids (DHETs) ( 10 ). Imbalances in CYP-eicosanoid formation are linked to the development of endothelial dysfunction and hypertension; ischemia-induced injury of the heart, kidney and brain; infl ammatory disorders; and atherosclerosis (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17).Recent studies demonstrated that the same CYP isoforms that epoxidize or hydroxylate AA, also effi ciently metabolize

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