Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) has optimal chain length and degree of unsaturation to inhibit oxidation of small dense LDL and membrane cholesterol domains as compared to related fatty acids in vitro

摘要

Background: Oxidation of small dense low-density lipoprotein (sdLDL) and membranes is causally related to atherosclerosis. The omega-3 fatty acid (FA) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5, omega-3) significantly reduced oxidized LDL in patients with hypertriglyceridemia by unknown mechanisms. We compared EPA effects to related FAs of varying chain length and unsaturation on oxidation of sdLDL and model membranes, and on cholesterol crystal domains. We compared EPA to the FAs: stearic (SA, 18:0), oleic (OA, 18:1, omega-9), linoleic (LA, 18:2, omega-6), alpha-linolenic (ALA, 18:3, omega-3), eicosanoic (EA, 20:0), eicosatrienoic (ETE, 20:3, omega-3), arachidonic (AA, 20:4, omega-6), docosapentaenoic (DPA, 22:5, omega-3), and docosahexaenoic (DHA, 22:6, omega-3).