Red cell and plasma fatty acid changes accompanying symptom remission in apatient with schizophrenia treated with eicosapentaenoic acid

The administration of the omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) to a drug-naive patient with schizophrenia, untreated with conventional antip sychotic medication, led to a dramatic and sustained clinical improvement i n both positive and negative symptoms. This was accompanied by a correction in eryrhrocyte membranes of abnormalities in both n-3 and n-6 highly unsat urated fatty acids (HUFAs). Therefore EPA is able to reverse the phospholip id abnormalities previously described in schizophrenia. This reversal is as sociated with, and is likely to be the cause of, the clinical improvement. In particular, EPA appears to have reversed the depletion of not only n-3 H UFAs, but also of membrane arachidonic acid, possibly via inhibition of HUF A-specific phospholipase A,, an enzyme which removes HUFAs from the S(N)2 p osition of membrane phospholipids, or by activation of a fatty acid coenzym e A ligase. Correction by EPA of abnormalities in both enzyme systems is no t ruled out. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.