engleski

Red blood cell membrane fatty acid analysis in never-medicated first-episode and chronic medicated-schizophrenic patients

Background: Reduced n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) content in red blood cell(RBC) membranes and abnormal membrane phospholipid metabolism were repeatedly implicated in the etiology of schizophrenia. Methods: Gas-chromatography analysis of fatty acids content in RBC was performed in the group of never-medicated first-episode schizophrenic patients, chronic medicated patients and healthy controls. Differences between group means were investigated using ANCOVA. Group, sex and smoking status were used as predictors, while covariates were body mass index (BMI) and age. The level of statistical significance was set to 0.01. Results: Three groups of subjects significantly differed in total n-3 fatty acid, 22:6n-3, 22:5n-3 and 22:0 RBC content, delta-9-desaturation (D9C18) index, peroxidizability index (PI), double bond index (DBI), and DBI/PI ratio. BMI was significantly correlated to average chain length (ACL), D9C18 index and PUFA/monounsaturated fatty acid ratio. First-episode patients had significantly higher total saturated fatty acid (SFA) content, particularly 18:0, lower total PUFAs content, particularly 18:2n-6 and 22:5n-3, lower D9C18 index, PUFA/SFA and DBI/PI ratios compared to controls. The differences between chronic medicated-patients and controls showed similar pattern. Only minor but highly significant differences were found between two groups of schizophrenic patients (22:0, 22:5n-3). Conclusions: 1) The results confirmed a disturbance of lipid homeostasis in RBC membranes as intrinsic feature of schizophrenia. 2) Reduced total n-3 FAs and total PUFAs content, reduced PI, DBI and D9C18 index, and higher total SFA and 18:0 content were found regardless of illness duration and antipsychotic treatment. 3) Nicotine usage was not a significant predictor of the FAs composition in RBC membranes of investigated subjects. 4) Drugs affecting phospholipid metabolism and providing recovery of lipid homeostasis in cellular membranes might have beneficial effects in schizophrenia.

red blood cell membranes; fatty acid analysis; schizophrenia

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