title: Levels of Red Blood Cell Fatty Acids in Patients With Psychosis, Their Unaffected Siblings, and Healthy Controls.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Two recent meta-analyses showed decreased red blood cell (RBC) polyunsaturated fatty acids (FA) in schizophrenia and related disorders. However, both these meta-analyses report considerable heterogeneity, probably related to differences in patient samples between studies. Here, we investigated whether variations in RBC FA are associated with psychosis, and thus may be an intermediate phenotype of the disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  For the present study, a total of 215 patients (87% outpatients), 187 siblings, and 98 controls were investigated for multiple FA analyses. Based on previous studies, we investigated docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), arachidonic acid (AA), linoleic acid (LA), nervonic acid (NA), and eicasopentaenoic acid (EPA). On an exploratory basis, a large number of additional FA were investigated. Multilevel mixed models were used to compare the FA between the 3 groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to controls, both patients and siblings showed significantly increased DHA, DPA, AA, and NA. LA was significantly higher in siblings compared to controls. EPA was not significantly different between the 3 groups. Also the exploratory FA were increased in patients and siblings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found increased RBC FA DHA, DPA, AA, and NA in patients and siblings compared to controls. The direction of change is similar in both patients and siblings, which may suggest a shared environment and/or an intermediate phenotype. Differences between patient samples reflecting stage of disorder, dietary patterns, medication use, and drug abuse are possible modifiers of FA, contributing to the heterogeneity in findings concerning FA in schizophrenia patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Antes Center for Mental Health Care, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Medema
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Roel J T
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Mocking
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Maarten W J
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Koeter
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genetic and Metabolic Diseases, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Frédéric M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Vaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Carin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Lieuwe
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Haan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Antes Center for Mental Health Care, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; nico.van.beveren@deltapsy.nl.
authors.forename: Nico J M
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: van Beveren
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Lieuwe
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Haan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Maastricht University Medical Center, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Os
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Durk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wiersma
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bruggeman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Wiepke
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Antes Center for Mental Health Care, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Carin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Maastricht University Medical Center, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Inez
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Myin-Germeys
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016718:Arachidonic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005229:Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated / Q000378:metabolism; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D019787:Linoleic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000378:metabolism*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000378:metabolism*; D035781:Siblings; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005229:Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids; D016718:Arachidonic Acid; C013147:nervonic acid; D019787:Linoleic Acid; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid; C026219:docosapentaenoic acid
keywords: AA (arachidonic acid); FA (fatty acid); NA (nervonic acid); Schizophrenia; endophenotype; familial