The polyenoic fatty acids of phospholipids and the problem of essential fatty acids

Incorporation of Photosensitive Fatty Acids into Phospholipids

In an approach to the study of phospholipid-protein interactions in biological membranes, the photoactivable fatty acids, w-(m-azidophenoxy)-undecanoic acid (I) and o-(m-diazirinophenoxy)-hexadecanoic acid (11), were incorporated biosynthetically into the phospholipids of the Escherichia coli fatty acid auxotroph, strain K1060-B5. The extent of incorportation of the two fatty acids was 43% and ...

Consequences of Essential Fatty Acids

Essential fatty acids (EFA) are nutrients that form an amazingly large array of bioactive mediators that act on a large family of selective receptors. Nearly every cell and tissue in the human body expresses at least one of these receptors, allowing EFA-based signaling to influence nearly every aspect of human physiology. In this way, the health consequences of specific gene-environment interac...

Metabolism of Essential Fatty Acids

The fat deficiency disease in the rat (I), dog (2), and chick (3) is characterized in part by sharply increased concentrations of one or more trienoic acids in the tissues, as indicated by alkali isomerization analyses. Indeed, the increase in conjugatable triene in the mitochondrial fatty acids may be the first noticeable symptom of the onset of fat deficiency (4). The major triene component o...

The essentials of essential fatty acids.

All fats, including saturated fatty acids, have important roles in the body. However, the most important fats are those that the body cannot make and thus must come from the food we eat. These essential fatty acids (EFAs) are based on linoleic acid (omega-6 group) and alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3 group). We need both groups of essential fatty acids to survive. For various reasons EFA deficienc...

Essential fatty acids and inflammation.