Polyunsaturated fatty acid levels in red cell membranes of unmedicated schizophrenic patients

Abstract

There are several reports of reduced levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), particularly arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), in membrane phospholipid from various tissues including red blood cells (RBC) taken from schizophrenic patients. However, reports have not been entirely consistent and most studies have been confounded by the potential effects of environmental factors including antipsychotic medication and diet. We measured PUFA levels in RBC from two separate groups of unmedicated patients and control subjects from India and Malaysia, populations which have substantial differences in diet. We found no significant difference in levels of AA between patients and control subjects in either population. Levels of adrenic acid were significantly reduced, and levels of DHA significantly increased in both clinical populations. However, diet-related differences in DHA between the populations from India and Malaysia were much greater than differences between schizophrenic patients and controls. It is concluded that reduced RBC membrane levels of AA and DHA are not pathognomic of schizophrenia but that variations in cell membrane fatty acid levels are an epiphenomenon which may reflect underlying abnormalities of phospholipid and fatty acid metabolism and their interaction with environmental factors including medication and diet.

Is there a role forn-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the regulation of mood and behaviour? A review of the evidence to date from epidemiological studies, clinical studies and intervention trials

“…Ten studies show decreased levels of n-3PUFA in schizophrenics compared with controls, while four studies show elevated levels of n-3PUFA in schizophrenics compared with controls (83,189,190 -198) . Two studies show increases in n-6PUFA:n-3PUFA (arachidonic acid: DHA) ratios in schizophrenics compared with controls (91,201) and two studies show decreases in n-6PUFA:n-3PUFA ratios (190,198) . All studies except five (91,189,195 -197) also found decreased n-6PUFA in schizophrenics compared with controls.…”

“…(1994) (191) C schizophrenia EM, mol/ml Treated C v. controls (192) C schizophrenia (193) C schizophrenia Brain C v. controls with mental disorders (91) C schizophrenia (194) C schizophrenia (195) C schizophrenia (196) C schizophrenia (197) C schizophrenia (81) C schizophrenia (198) C Indian schizophrenia (199) C schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder (200) C schizophrenia…”

Modulation of polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis by antipsychotic medications: implications for the pathophysiology and treatment of schizophrenia

“…To date, six case-control studies have investigated red blood cell (RBC) PUFA levels in medication-naive, first-episode or early-episode psychotic patients [56][57][58][59][60][61]. For omega-6 PUFAs, the majority of studies, but not all [59], found that medication-naive, first-episode patients did not exhibit lower RBC LA levels relative to healthy controls [56,57,58,60,61]. This finding is important as it suggests that these patients had adequate LA in their diet [6].…”

“…This finding is important as it suggests that these patients had adequate LA in their diet [6]. However, despite normal RBC LA levels, the majority of studies, with the exception of one [58], found that patients exhibited significantly lower RBC levels of fatty acid products of LA, including AA and adrenic acid (22:4n-6) [56,57,60,61]. For omega-3 PUFAs, only one study reported RBC ALA levels in medication-naive, first-episode patients that did not differ from healthy controls [58].…”

Estabilidad oxidativa y calidad sensorial de carne de pollo enriquecida con acidos grasos n-3 proveniente de fuentes de origen vegetal y animal, protegida con vitamina E y selenio orgánico.

“…Estos bajo niveles de omega-3 estarían asociados con el bajo consumo de alimentos que aportan estos AG (Frasure- Smith et al, 2004;Peet et al, 2004). A su vez, diversos autores (Puri et al, 2001;Nemets et al, 2002) han demostrado que las intervenciones en pacientes depresivos, mediante la suplementación con AGPI n-3, por cortos períodos, lograron mejoras significativas de los síntomas depresivos.…”