Very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFAs) longer than 26 carbons are not present in normal vertebrate diets, yet they are uniquely found in the retina and a few other tissues, implying physiological importance of their biosynthesis from shorter-chain dietary precursors via the action of the ELOVL4 enzyme. While progress has been made by studying retinal samples from human donors and by investigating mouse models of Elovl4 dysfunction, further physiology and interventional research has been hampered by the scarcity of pure VLC-PUFAs. Here, we report the synthesis of a VLC-PUFA (32:6 n-3) in sufficient quantity to study its bioavailability in mice and to investigate its potential roles in normal retinal function and for treatment of disorders associated with VLC-PUFA deficiencies.
正常的脊椎动物饮食中并没有超过26个碳的超长链多不饱和脂肪酸(VLC-PUFAs),然而这些物质却唯一地存在于视网膜和其他一些组织中,这意味着通过ELOVL4酶作用从较短链的膳食前体中合成这些物质具有生理重要性。尽管通过研究人类供体的视网膜样本和调查Elovl4功能失调的小鼠模型已经取得了进展,但是由于纯VLC-PUFAs的稀缺性,进一步的生理学和干预研究受到了阻碍。在这里,我们报告了一种VLC-PUFA(32:6 n-3)的合成,足以研究其在小鼠中的生物可用性,并调查其在正常视网膜功能和治疗与VLC-PUFA缺乏相关的疾病中的潜在作用。