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N-3 Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFAs), in particular α-linolenic acid (18:3n-3), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) are receiving much attention because of their presumed beneficial health effects. To explain these, a variety of mechanisms have been proposed, but their interactions with the endocannabinoid system have received relatively little attention so far. However, it has already been shown some time ago that consumption of n-3 LC-PUFAs not only affects the synthesis of prototypic endocannabinoids like anandamide but also stimulates the formation of specific n-3 LC-PUFA-derived conjugates with ethanolamine, dopamine, serotonin or other amines. Some of these fatty amides show overlapping biological activities with those of typical endocannabinoids, whereas others possess distinct and sometimes largely unknown receptor affinities and other properties. The ethanolamine and dopamine conjugates of DHA have been the most investigated thus far. These mediators may provide promising new leads to the field of inflammatory and neurological disorders and for other pharmacological applications, including their use as carrier molecules for neurotransmitters to target the brain. Furthermore, combinations of n-3 LC-PUFA-derived fatty acid amides, their precursors and FAAH inhibitors offer possibilities to optimise their effects in health and disease.
Pubmed ID: 23088259
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A multi-institutional effort to identify and quantitate, using a systems biology approach and sophisticated mass spectrometers, all of the major - and many minor - lipid species in mammalian cells, as well as to quantitate the changes in these species in response to perturbation. The goal of their research is to better understand lipid metabolism and the active role lipids play in diabetes, stroke, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer's and other lipid-based diseases in order to facilitate development of more effective treatments. Resources available include: LIPID MAPS publications, detailed biochemical pathways, improved protocols for lipid separation and quantification, analytical tools for determining lipid quantitation, structure drawing tools for automatically drawing lipid molecular structures in stereochemical detail, and experimental data. The LIPID MAPS organization includes six lipidomics core laboratories, each specialized in extracting, identifying, and quantifying one of the major categories of mammalian lipids: fatty acyls, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, sterol lipids, and prenol lipids. Other core laboratories and bridge projects include bioinformatics, mass spectrometric imaging, lipid synthesis, oxidized lipids, and macrophage biology and genomics.
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