Ischemic stroke and n-3 fatty acids.

The content of fatty acids in subcutaneous adipose tissue was measured to determine whether differences of fatty acids correlate with presence or absence of cerebral infarction in individual patients. Adipose tissue microbiopsies was sampled from 10 patients with computed tomography (CT) verified cerebral infarction and 10 matched control subjects, and assayed for content of fatty acids by gas-liquid chromatographic analysis. There were no differences in levels of n-3 fatty acids of marine origin. Patients with cerebral infarction had statistically significant lower levels of the essential fatty acids linoleic acid (mean+/-SE, 8.9+/-0.4 v 10.7+/-0.5%) (P<.05) and linolenic acid (0.80+/-0.05 v 1.00+/-0.06%) (P<.05) and high levels of palmitoleic acid (8.5+/-0.6% v 5.7+/-0.4%) (P<.005) indicative of increased lipid synthesis de novo, which might explain the depressed levels of fatty acids primarily supplied by the diet. Although significant differences in levels of essential fatty acids were found, no judgment could be made regarding a causal relationship between essential fatty acids and cerebral infarction. The present study does not support the hypothesis of an association between dietary fatty acids (e.g., fish consumption) and ischemic stroke.