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Recent Advances in the Supply of Docosahexaenoic Acid to the Nervous System

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Fatty Acids

Part of the book series: Nutrition and Health ((NH))

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Abstract

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) is the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) acylated to the aminophospholipids phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylserine (PS) in membranes of neurons within the central nervous system (CNS) (Naughton, 1981; Salem et al., 1986). It can occur in concentrations exceeding 30-mol% of the fatty acids (Salem, 1989). The high enrichment of DHA in synaptosomes is especially striking and suggests that DHA has unique properties that are required for optimal neuronal function. This concentration in the CNS is even more remarkable when one considers that sources of n-3 fatty acids are disproportionately limited in the terrestrial food chain compared to the much more abundant n-6 fatty acids.

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Authors
  1. Robert J. Pawlosky
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  2. Norman Salem Jr.
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    David I. Mostofsky PhD

  2. Psychopharmacology Laboratory, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Shlomo Yehuda PhD

  3. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, MD, USA

    Norman Salem Jr. PhD

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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Pawlosky, R.J., Salem, N. (2001). Recent Advances in the Supply of Docosahexaenoic Acid to the Nervous System. In: Mostofsky, D.I., Yehuda, S., Salem, N. (eds) Fatty Acids. Nutrition and Health. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-119-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-119-0_7

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-265-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-119-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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