linoleic-acid and Acrodermatitis

Since the discovery in 1929 that certain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are essential for life and health, intense investigation has revealed the multiplicity of members in each of several families of PUFA, no two of which are equivalent. The quantified nutrient requirements for the essential dietary precursors of the two dominant families of PUFA have been estimated, and the general functions of these families are slowly becoming known. The PUFA are essential components of structural membrane lipids. The functions of the individual members are not yet differentiated, except as they act as precursors of synthesis of unique octadecanoid, eicosanoid, and docosanoid products of oxidation that have potent biological properties. The PUFA occur in animals and higher plants as ubiquitous and essential components of structural lipid that are in a dynamic equilibrium with the pool of dietary acyl groups. Many human diseases have been found to involve unique essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiencies or distortions of the normal equilibrium pattern. The equilibrium is influenced by the level of dietary intake or precursors, by the presence of competing essential and nonessential acyl groups, by nonoptimum intake of other essential nutrients, by hormonal effects, by drug therapy, and by other effects upon physiological condition. With the many variables already known to modulate or control the equilibrium, it should be possible with more precise understanding of each variable to shift abnormal equilibria in the direction of normalcy. This perhaps will be the next area of intensive investigation in this field of nutrition and metabolism.

Topics: Acrodermatitis; alpha-Linolenic Acid; Arachidonic Acid; Arachidonic Acids; Aspirin; Child; Crohn Disease; Cystic Fibrosis; DDT; Dicofol; Ethanol; Fatty Acids, Essential; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; Female; Humans; Ichthyosis; Indomethacin; Isomerism; Linoleic Acid; Linoleic Acids; Linolenic Acids; Lipid Metabolism; Lipolysis; Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic; Models, Chemical; Myocardial Infarction; Protein-Energy Malnutrition; Reye Syndrome; Structure-Activity Relationship

The fatty acid composition of different plasma lipid fractions has been estimated in a 6-month-old girl with acrodermatitis enteropathica before and after zinc supplementation. Linoleic acid and its metabolites were extremely reduced in triglycerides and sterol-esters. In contrast, n-3-fatty acids were increased in sterol-esters and phospholipids. Zinc supplementation led to quick clinical improvement, and linoleic and arachidonic acid increased rapidly in triglycerides and sterol-esters to the values of healthy infants. Fatty acids of phospholipids remained relatively stable. Our findings could be explained by impaired enteral absorption of linoleic acid. Further attention should be directed to the supply and metabolism of essential fatty acids in acrodermatitis enteropathica.

Topics: Acrodermatitis; Fatty Acids, Essential; Female; Humans; Infant; Intestinal Absorption; Linoleic Acid; Linoleic Acids; Lipids; Phospholipids; Sterols; Triglycerides; Zinc