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The significance of polyunsaturated fatty acids in cutaneous biology
Author(s) -
Ziboh Vincent A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/bf02637085
Subject(s) - polyunsaturated fatty acid , docosahexaenoic acid , arachidonic acid , eicosapentaenoic acid , lipoxygenase , linoleic acid , fish oil , biochemistry , chemistry , prostaglandin , cyclooxygenase , fatty acid , pharmacology , biology , enzyme , fishery , fish <actinopterygii>
The skin epidermis displays a highly active metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Dietary deficiency of linoleic acid (LA) and 18‐carbon (n‐6) PUFA results in characteristic scaly skin disorder and excessive epidermal water loss. Arachidonic acid, a 20‐carbon (n‐6) PUFA is metabolized via the cyclooxygenase pathway into predominantly prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) PGF 2α′ and PGD 2 and via the lipoxygenase pathway into predominantly 15‐hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (15‐HETE). The prostaglandins modulate normal skin physiological processes at low concentrations and inflammatory reactions at high concentrations. Similarly, the very active epidermal 15‐lipoxygenase transforms dihomogammalinolenic acid (DGLA) into 15‐hydroxy eicosatrienoic acid (15‐HETrE), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) into 15‐hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid (15‐HEPE) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) into 17‐hydroxydocosahexaenoic acid (17‐HDoHE), respectively. These monohydroxy acids exhibit anti‐inflammatory properties. In contrast, the 18‐carbon (n‐6) PUFA is transformed into 13‐hydroxy‐9,11‐octadecadienoic acid (13‐HODE), which exerts antiproliferative properties in the tissue. Thus the supplementation of diets with appropriate purified vegetable oils and/or fish oil may generate local cutaneous anti‐inflammatory metabolites which could serve as a less toxic in vivo monotherapy or as adjuncts to standard therapeutic regimens for the management of skin inflammaory disorders.