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Altered polyunsaturated fatty acid levels in relation to proinflammatory cytokines, fatty acid desaturase genotype, and diet in bipolar disorder
This 2019 study examined patients with bipolar disorder (BD): their dietary habits, fatty acid desaturase (FADS) genotype, and their proinflammatory cytokine levels. Both inflammation and irregular polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) levels have been implicated in the development of BD, while the FADS genotype is relevant since a locus was found in this FADS gene cluster that conferred vulnerability to develop BD. Here, Koga et al. (2019) measured the PUFA levels of 83 patients with BD and 217 healthy controls. The researchers also genotyped three FADS single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and took plasma interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) readings of a subsample of 65 BD sufferers and of 90 controls. Participants then completed diet history questionnaires to determine their consumption of fish. There were significant differences between the patients and the controls in all 7 PUFAs tested here — in particular, n-3 eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) levels were lower and n-6 arachidonic acid concentrations were much higher in patients than in healthy controls (p < 0.0001 for both). The levels of EPA were found to be negatively correlated with IL-6 and TNFα levels in patients with BD, in whom these inflammatory markers were significantly higher compared with the control individuals. The FADS genotype, which was linked with increased n-6 PUFA levels, was also linked with elevated levels of TNFα, while a decreased frequency of fish consumption was connected with low EPA and high IL-6 readings. These findings not only strengthen the link between plasma PUFA modification and abnormal proinflammatory cytokine levels with bipolar disorder, but suggest that FADS genotype and fish consumption may contribute to the alterations in PUFA levels and to the inflammation in BD. [NPID: mood disorders, psychiatric disorders, gut microbiota, microbiome, inflammation, bipolar disorder, BD, PUFA, cytokine levels, EPA, fish]
Year: 2019
