Long-chain and very long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in ocular aging and age-related macular degeneration.
Retinal long-chain PUFAs (LC-PUFAs, C(12)-C(22)) play important roles in normal human retinal function and visual development, and some epidemiological studies of LC-PUFA intake suggest a protective role against the incidence of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD). On the other hand, retinal very long-chain PUFAs (VLC-PUFAs, C(n>22)) have received much less attention since their identification decades ago, due to their minor abundance and more difficult assays, but recent discoveries that defects in VLC-PUFA synthetic enzymes are associated with rare forms of inherited macular degenerations have refocused attention on their potential roles in retinal health and disease. We thus developed improved GC-MS methods to detect LC-PUFAs and VLC-PUFAs, and we then applied them to the study of their changes in ocular aging and AMD. With ocular aging, some VLC-PUFAs in retina and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)/choroid peaked in middle age. Compared with age-matched normal donors, docosahexaenoic acid, adrenic acid, and some VLC-PUFAs in AMD retina and RPE/choroid were significantly decreased, whereas the ratio of n-6/n-3 PUFAs was significantly increased. All these findings suggest that deficiency of LC-PUFAs and VLC-PUFAs, and/or an imbalance of n-6/n-3 PUFAs, may be involved in AMD pathology.
Liu
Aihua
A
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Moran Eye Center, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA.
Chang
James
J
Lin
Yanhua
Y
Shen
Zhengqing
Z
Bernstein
Paul S
PS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D002829:Choroid / Q000378:metabolism; D005123:Eye / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated