A-Linolenic acid deficiency

Tinoco, J., Babcock, R., Hincenbergs, L, Medwactowski, B-, and Milianich, F, (1978). Li-nolenic acid deficiency Changes in fatty acid patterns in female and male rats raised on a linolenic acid-deficient diet for two generations. Upids 13,6-17. 

Brightness-Discrimination Learning Behavior and Retinal Function Affected by Long-Term a-Linolenic Acid Deficiency in Rat... 

Delion S, Chalon S, Herault J, Guilloteau D, Besnard JC, Durand G. Chronic dietary a-linolenic acid deficiency alters dopaminergic and serotoninergic neurotransmission in rats. J Nutr 1994 124 2466-2476. 

Owens SP, Innis SM. Docosahexaenoic acid and arachidonic acid prevent a decrease in dopaminergic and serotoninergic neurotransmitters in frontal cortex caused by a 1 inoleic and a-linolenic acid deficient diet in formula-fed piglets. J Nutr 1999 129 2088-2093. 

The essentialness of a-linolenic acid and of its longer derivatives EPA or DHA is supported by experiments in animals and observations in young patients. In infant rhesus monkeys after a diet deficient in co-3 fatty acids a visual loss could be observed [21]. In 1982 Holman et al. [15] described the case of a 6-year-old girl with a-linolenic acid deficiency. She experienced distal numbness and paresthesias, weakness, periodic inability to walk, and blurring of vision. The authors suggest that a-linolenic acid respectively co-3-polyenoic fatty acids are required for normal nerve function, at least in growing individuals. Meanwhile co-3 fatty acid deficiency could be observed in five adults, documented by biochemical changes of fatty acid composition, but not by clinical symptoms [3,22]. In a 90-year-old female with a-linolenic acid deficiency, the effects of ethyl a-linolenate on biosynthesis of prostanoids could be demonstrated [4]. 

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... 

Holman, R.T., Johnson, S.B., and Hatch, T.F. 1982. A case of human linolenic acid deficiency involving neurological abnormalities. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 35, 617-623. 

Linoleic acid (18 3 -6 and a-linolenic acid (18 3n-3) are metabolically essential fatty acids, but linoleic acid is the only essential fatty acid for which a dietary requirement has been established. Characteristic EFA deficiency symptoms observed in poultry include an increased need for water and decreased resistance to disease. A dietary requirement for linoleic acid has been set at 1% of diet dry matter. No major special considerations are mentioned for turkeys, ducks, ringnecked pheasants, Japanese quail, and bobwhite quail (16). 

Feeding Infants a liquid forcnulation based on safflower oil can result in linolenic acid deficiency. Explain this effect. (Sec Hcird and GomcJ-, 1W6-)... 

Bourre J, Durand G, Erre J, et al. Changes in auditory brainstem responses in alpha-linolenic acid deficiency as a function of age in rats. Audiology 1999 38 8-13. 

Frances H, Coudereau JP, Sandouk P, Clement M. Mother C. Bourre JM. Influence of a dietary alpha-linolenic acid deficiency on learning in the Morris w iler maze and on the effects of morphine. Eur J Pharmacol 1996 298(3) 217-225. 

Frances H. Monier C, Clement M, Lecorsier A, Debray M. Bouire JM. Effect of dietary alpha-linolenic acid deficiency on habituation. Life Sci 1996 58(21) 18O5-1816. 

Requirements for PUFA cannot be met by de novo metabolic processes in mammalian tissues. Animals are absolutely dependent on plants (or insects) for providing double bonds in the A12 and A15 positions of the two major precursors of the n-6 and n-3 fatty acids, linoleic and a-linolenic acids (Fig. 5). These two fatty acids therefore are called essential fatty acids. Classical studies of essential fatty acid deficiency in rodents demonstrated that the main symptoms are dry skin, dermatitis, and massive water... 

This first generation n-3 deficiency may be considered a model of the human case in which the mother has a diet containing a-linolenic acid but low in long-chain n-3 polyunsaturates such as DHA. The infant is then given a formula with its EFA content derived from corn oil or some other linoleic acid-rich seed oil and devoid of any long-chain n-3 pol3ninsat-urate source, as has been a common p ractice in North America... 

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