A-Linolenate

Lipids. Representative fatty acid compositions of the unprocessed triglyceride oils found in the four oilseeds are given in Table 4 (see Fats and FATTY oils). Cottonseed, peanut, and sundower oils are classified as oleic—linoleic acid oils because of the high (>50%) content of these fatty acids. Although the oleic and linoleic acid content of soybean oils is high, it is distinguished from the others by a content of 4—10% of linolenic acid, and hence is called a linolenic acid oil. 

Write properly balanced chemical equations for the oxidation to COg and water of (a) myristic acid, (b) stearic acid, (c) a-linolenic acid, and (d) arachidonic acid. 

Linoleic and a-linolenic acids are the only fatty acids known to be essential for the complete nutrition of many species of animals, including humans, and are known as the nutritionally essential fatty acids. In most mammals, arachidonic acid can be formed from linoleic acid (Figure 23-4). Double bonds can be intro-... 

Figure 23-1. Structure of some unsaturated fatty acids. Although the carbon atoms in the molecules are conventionally numbered—ie, numbered from the carboxyl terminal—the co numbers (eg, co7 in palmitoleic acid) are calculated from the reverse end (the methyl terminal) of the molecules. The information in parentheses shows, for instance, that a-linolenic acid contains double bonds starting at the third carbon from the methyl terminal, has 18 carbons and 3 double bonds, and has these double bonds at the 9th, 12th, and 15th carbons from the carboxyl terminal. (Asterisks Classified as "essential fatty acids.")...

Rats fed a purified nonlipid diet containing vitamins A and D exhibit a reduced growth rate and reproductive deficiency which may be cured by the addition of linoleic, a-linolenic, and arachidonic acids to the diet. These fatty acids are found in high concentrations in vegetable oils (Table 14-2) and in small amounts in animal carcasses. These essential fatty acids are required for prostaglandin, thromboxane, leukotriene, and lipoxin formation (see below), and they also have various other functions which are less well defined. Essential fatty acids are found in the stmctural lipids of the cell, often in the 2 position of phospholipids, and are concerned with the structural integrity of the mitochondrial membrane. 

There are three groups of eicosanoids that are synthesized from C20 eicosanoic acids derived from the essential fatty acids linoleate and a-linolenate, or directly from dietary arachidonate and eicosapentaenoate (Figure 23-5). Arachidonate, usually derived from the 2 position of phospholipids in the plasma membrane by the action of phospholipase Aj (Figure 24-6)—but also from the diet—is the substrate for the synthesis of the PG2, 1X2 series (prostanoids) by the cyclooxygenase pathway, or the LT4 and LX4 series by the lipoxygenase pathway, with the two pathways competing for the arachidonate substrate (Figure 23-5). 

Highet animals have A, A, A, and desatutases but cannot insert new double bonds beyond the 9 position of fatty acids. Thus, the essential fatty acids hnoleic ((o6) and a-linolenic ((03) must be obtained from the diet. 

The essential fatty acids in humans are linoleic acid (C-18 2 N-6) and a-linolenic acid (C18 3 N-3). Arachidonic acid (C20 4 N-6) is also essential but can be synthesized from linoleic acid. Administration of 2% to 4% of total daily calories as linoleic acid should be adequate to prevent essential fatty acid deficiency in adults (e.g., infusion of 500 mL of 20% intravenous lipid emulsion once weekly).7 Biochemical evidence of essential fatty acid deficiency can develop in about 2 to 4 weeks in adult patients receiving lipid-free PN, and clinical manifestations generally appear after an additional... 

Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially the n-3 series that are found in marine fish oils, modulate a variety of normal and disease processes, and consequently affect human health. PUFAs are classified based on the position of double bonds in their lipid structure and include the n-3 and n-6 series. Dietary n-3 PUFAs include a-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) whereas the most common n-6 PUFAs are linoleic acid, y-linolenic acid, and arachidonic acid (AA). AA is the primary precursor of eicosanoids, which includes the prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and thromboxanes. Collectively, these AA-derived mediators can exert profound effects on immune and inflammatory processes. Mammals can neither synthesize n-3 and n-6 PUFAs nor convert one variety to the other as they do not possess the appropriate enzymes. PUFAs are required for membrane formation and function... 

Figure 11.2 Structures of commonly occurring unsaturated fatty acids (i) oleic acid, C18 1 (ii) linoleic acid, C18 2 (iii) a-linolenic acid, C18 3.

Octadecatrienoic a-Linolenic 08 3 (n — 3) Abundant in linseed oil and in other plant oils and tissues... 

Although these are termed essential fatty acids, they are, in fact, precursors for the major polyunsaturated fatty acids that have essential roles in the body but are present only in small amounts in the diet. Linoleic acid is converted, via elongation and desaturation reactions, to dihomo-y-linolenic (20 3n-6) and then to arachidonic (20 4n-6) acid. a-Linolenic is converted to eicosapentaenoic (20 5n-3) and then docosahexae-noic (22 6n-3). The pathways for formation of these latter fatty acids, from their dietary precursors, are presented in Figures 11.11 and 11.12. Full details of one pathway are provided, as an example, in Appendix 11.4. For comparison of the two pathways, they are presented side by side in Figure 11.13. 

Figure 11.12 Outline of the pathway by which a-linolenic acid is converted to eicosapentaenoic (ERA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Figure 11.13 The pathways in Figures 11.11 and 11.12 are presented side by side for comparison. The pathways are known as the omega-6 and the omega-3 pathways. Both linoleic and a-linolenic acids are, in general, present in sufficient amounts in the diet of humans to provide adeguate amounts of arachidonic and eicosapentaenoic acids, but the enzymes in the two pathways must be sufficiently active for conversions to occur (see below).

The pathways of conversion of linoleic and a-linolenic fatty acids to their respective fatty acid end-products (arachidonic and eicosapentaenoic acid) are described in Figures 11.11 and 11.12. The initial reaction in these... 

The sources of these fatty acids in the cells are those that are present at position 2 of the membrane phospholipids. The proportion of these two in the phospholipid depends to a large extent on the type of fatty acids in the triacylg-lycerol in the diet, that is, the amount of the omega-6 (lin-oleic acid) and that of the omega-3 (a-linolenic acid). 

Figure 20.3 Essential fatty acids in the diet, production of physiological essential acids and their roles in the cell cycle. Essential fatty adds in the diet are mainly linoleic and a-linolenic but they are converted by desaturation and elongation reactions to the essential acids that are used in phospholipid formation and synthesis of eicosanoids. (For details of the elongation and desaturation reactions and eicosanoid formation, see Chapter 11.).

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