title: The fatty acid compositions of erythrocyte and plasma polar lipids in children with autism, developmental delay or typically developing controls and the effect of fish oil intake.
abstract: The erythrocyte and plasma fatty acid compositions of children with autism were compared in a case-control study with typically developing (TD) children and with children showing developmental delay (DD). Forty-five autism subjects were age-matched with TD controls and thirty-eight with DD controls. Fatty acid data were compared using paired t tests. In addition, blood fatty acids from treatment-naive autism subjects were compared with autism subjects who had consumed fish oil supplements by two-sample t tests. Relatively few differences were seen between erythrocyte fatty acids in autism and TD subjects although the former had an increased arachidonic acid (ARA):EPA ratio. This ratio was also increased in plasma samples from the same children. No changes in n-3 fatty acids or ARA:EPA ratio were seen when comparing autism with DD subjects but some SFA and MUFA were decreased in the DD subjects, most notably 24 : 0 and 24 : 1, which are essential components of axonal myelin sheaths. However, if multiple comparisons are taken into account, and a stricter level of significance applied, most of these values would not be significant. Autism subjects consuming fish oil showed reduced erythrocyte ARA, 22 : 4n-6, 22 : 5n-6 and total n-6 fatty acids and increased EPA, 22 : 5n-3, 22 : 6n-3 and total n-3 fatty acids along with reduced n-6:n-3 and ARA:EPA ratios. Collectively, the autism subjects did not have an underlying phospholipid disorder, based on erythrocyte fatty acid compositions, although the increased ARA:EPA ratio observed suggested that an imbalance of essential highly unsaturated fatty acids may be present in a cohort of autism subjects.
authors.affiliation: Nutrition Group, Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK. g.j.bell@stir.ac.uk
authors.forename: John Gordon
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Donald J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.forename: Elizabeth E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: MacKinlay
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Dick
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cheseldine
authors.forename: Rose M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.forename: Catriona
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: O'Hare
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000097:blood*; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000097:blood; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000097:blood*; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified / Q000097:blood; D005395:Fish Oils / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; D005395:Fish Oils; D008055:Lipids