Predicting the retinal content in omega‐3 fatty acids for age‐related macular‐degeneration

• Published in: Clinical and Translational Medicine Vol. 11; no. 7; pp. e404 - n/a
• Main Authors: Acar, Niyazi, Merle, Bénédicte M. J., Ajana, Soufiane, He, Zhiguo, Grégoire, Stéphane, Hejblum, Boris P., Martine, Lucy, Buaud, Benjamin, Bron, Alain Marie, Creuzot‐garcher, Catherine, Korobelnik, Jean‐françois, Berdeaux, Olivier, Jacqmin-Gadda, Hélène, Brétillon, Lionel, Delcourt, Cécile, Cabaret, Stéphanie, Gain, Philippe, Cougnard-Grégoire, Audrey, Delyfer, Marie-Noëlle, Féart, Catherine, Febvret, Valérie, Thuret, Gilles, G., Vaysse, Carole
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley 01.07.2021; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Heidelberg : Springer-Verlag; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: [SDV.MHEP.OS]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Sensory Organs; Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biomarkers; Blood; Body mass index; Case-Control Studies; Cholesterol; Cholesterol Esters; Cholesterol Esters - blood; Dietary Supplements; Discriminant Analysis; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids, Omega-3; Fatty Acids, Omega-3 - administration & dosage; Fatty Acids, Omega-3 - analysis; Female; Flumazenil; Flumazenil - analogs & derivatives; Flumazenil - analysis; High density lipoprotein; Human health and pathology; Humans; Letter to Editor; Life Sciences; Lipids; Low density lipoprotein; Macular Degeneration; Macular Degeneration - pathology; Male; Medicine (General); Metabolism; Middle Aged; Plasma; R5-920; Retina; Retina - metabolism; Risk Factors; Sensory Organs; Triglycerides
• ISSN: 2001-1326; 2001-1326
• DOI: 10.1002/ctm2.404

Dear Editor, Current treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD)―the leading cause of blindness in industrialized countries―are restricted to a single form of the disease and cannot always avoid severe visual loss.1 Among emerging preventive strategies, ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are enjoying interest as they promote normal retinal structure and function, reduce incidence, and slow progression of AMD, consistently with their abundance in retinal neurons. While more than 20 epidemiological studies have consistently shown a 40%-reduction in risk of AMD in subjects with high dietary intake of ω-3 PUFAs,2 and human donor studies have measured lower ω-3 PUFAs concentration in AMD eyes compared to age-matched controls,3 supplementation trials failed to impact disease progression.4,5 This controversy lies partly in the impossibility of directly assess the retinal ω-3 PUFAs content, making the use of a systemic biomarker a mandatory surrogate for tissue composition. TABLE 1 Fatty acid composition (%) of blood and eye tissues of human donors Retina Red blood cells Plasma Total Phosphatidylcholine Cholesteryl esters Median (IQR) Median (IQR) Median (IQR) Median (IQR) Median (IQR) C14:0 0.35 (0.13–0.46) 0.68 (0.32–1.39) 0.58 (0.43–0.83) 0.20 (0.11–0.25) 0.36 (0.16–0.77) C15:0 0.10 (0.07–0.13) 0.23 (0.17–0.29) 0.22 (0.18–0.27) 0.23 (0.15–0.31) 0.20 (0015–0.27) C16:0 19.65 (14.76–21.00) 24.34 (21.99–26.74) 23.42 (22.58–25.91) 27.15 (21.83–32.03) 12.67 (11.57–14.44) C16:1ω-9 0.75 (0.57–0.87) 0.30 (0.23–0.39) 0.30 (0.25–0.34) 0.16 (0.11–0.24) 0.33 (0.24–0.43) C16:1ω-7 0.55 (0.42–0.77) 2.30 (1.71–2.76) 2.72 (1.87–3.18) 0.48 (0.31–0.77) 3.27 (2.09–4.34) C17:0 0.15 (0.12–0.18) 0.36 (0.32–0.44) 0.33 (0.30–0.36) 0.47 (0.42–0.57) 0.13 (0.11–0.17) C18:0 20.52 (19.40–21.33) 9.21 (7.55–10.81) 6.39 (5.73–6.94) 13.33 (10.92–16.07) 0.87 (0.73–1.35) C18:1trans 0.12 (0.08–0.17) 0.44 (0.35–0.54) 0.47 (0.31–0.64) 0.42 (0.27–0.57) 0.58 (0.20–0.98) C18:1ω-9 15.46 (14.12–16.18) 29.13 (24.93–34.84) 29.00 (26.52–31.94) 15.42 (13.07–17.31) 25.97 (24.06–28.62) C18:1ω-7 3.13 (2.88–3.45) 2.28 (1.96–2.55) 2.50 (2.22–2.83) 2.37 (1.99–2.87) 2.14 (1.83–2.52) C18:2ω-6 1.61 (1.35–1.95) 12.29 (10.30–14.86) 19.95 (17.40–21.97) 16.91 (14.68–20.62) 41.84 (38.03–45.98) C20:0 0.53 (0.47–0.63) 0.17 (0.13–0.21) 0.14 (0.09–0.15) 0.17 (0.09–0.29) n.d. – C18:3ω-6 0.13 (0.11–0.16) n.d. – 0.13 (0.08–0.22) 0.21 (0.00–0.26) 0.37 (0.24–0.61) C20:1ω-9 0.56 (0.48–0.68) 0.39 (0.33–0.49) 0.27 (0.21–0.32) 0.25 (0.20–0.45) n.d. – C18:3ω-3 0.15 (0.13–0.19) 0.30 (0.20–0.41) 0.37 (0.31–0.54) 0.18 (0.14–0.26) 0.45 (0.31–0.56) C20:2ω-6 0.16 (0.13–0.20) 0.22 (0.18–0.25) 0.19 (0.16–0.24) 0.38 (0.30–0.52) n.d. – C20:3ω-9 0.31 (0.21–0.40) n.d. – 0.14 (0.11–0.19) 0.23 (0.19–0.33) n.d. – C22:0 0.36 (0.30–0.49) 0.23 (0.16–0.32) 0.17 (0.12–0.21) n.d. – n.d. – C20:3ω-6 1.57 (1.29–2.05) 0.67 (0.42–0.93) 0.78 (0.59–1.07) 2.34 (1.78–2.95) 0.60 (0.45–0.67) C22:1ω-9 0.10 (0.07–0.13) n.d. – n.d. – n.d. – n.d. – C20:4ω-6 10.92 (10.31–12.15) 6.18 (3.24–8.12) 5.43 (4.33–6.79) 9.14 (6.79–11.44) 6.30 (4.99–8.34) C24:0 0.30 (0.25–0.41) 0.39 (0.27–0.52) 0.10 (0.00–0.16) n.d. – n.d. – C20:5ω-3 0.18 (0.14–0.24) 0.28 (0.19–0.40) 0.43 (0.22–0.59) 0.63 (0.37–0.86) 0.62 (0.42–0.83) C24:1ω-9 0.11 (0.08–0.17) 0.64 (0.48–0.92) 0.42 (0.26–0.57) n.d. – n.d. – C22:4ω-6 1.37 (1.26–1.62) 0.83 (0.48–1.12) 0.26 (0.20–0.30) 0.40 (0.31–0.45) n.d. – C22:5ω-6 0.53 (0.43–0.71) 0.17 (0.11–0.27) 0.15 (0.12–0.19) 0.27 (0.21–0.37) n.d. – C22:5ω-3 1.04 (0.86–1.26) 0.83 (0.40–1.05) 0.45 (0.38–0.49) 1.02 (0.70–1.15) n.d. – C22:6ω-3 15.20 (13.09–16.87) 1.84 (0.70–2.31) 1.54 (1.27–1.89) 2.99 (2.21–4.20) 0.53 (0.41–0.67) total SFAs 45.34 (41.90–46.87) 38.41 (35.52–40.58) 32.40 (31.07–34.21) 42.63 (39.17–45.63) 14.80 (13.24–17.03) total MUFAs 21.49 (19.94–22.81) 36.48 (31.50–29.26) 36.42 (32.56–39.02) 19.48 (17.15–21.38) 33.14 (31.10–35.54) total PUFAs 33.41 (30.87–36.60) 25.25 (16.59–29.26) 30.70 (27.04–34.26) 36.86 (32.49–40.10) 51.7 (47.95–54.87) total ω-6 16.42 (15.55–19.07) 21.32 (14.80–24.91) 27.48 (24.18–30.89) 10.75 (7.82–12.66) 6.90 (5.23–8.72) total ω-3 16.79 (14.46–18.43) 3.41 (1.72–4.09) 2.89 (2.39–3.66) 4.95 (3.96–6.08) 1.63 (1.40–2.05) ω-6 / ω-3 ratio 1.04 (0.91–1.20) 7.45 (5.36–9.28) 9.49 (7.77–11.33) 2.12 (1.63–2.76) 4.34 (3.39–5.51) Abbreviations: IQR, interquartile range; MUFAs, monounsaturated fatty acids; n.d., not detected; PUFAs, polyunsaturated fatty acids; SFAs, saturated fatty acids. SEE PDF] TABLE 2 Characteristics of the participants to the case-control and LIMPIA studies Case-control study cases (n = 31) controls (n = 31) p value Age, mean (SD) (range), y 84.5 (4.2) (76.7–92.5) 84.2 (4.3) (76.8–90.7) 0.4 Female, no (%) 22 (71.0) 22 (71.0) – BMI, mean (SD), kg/m² 24.8 (3.0) (18.9–31.6) 24.8 (3.6) (18.1–34.7) 0.98 Plasma total cholesterol, mean (SD) (range), mmol/L 5.89 (0.98) (3.32–8.62) 5.59 (1.00) (3.00–7.56) 0.24 Plasma HDL cholesterol, mean (SD) (range), mmol/L 1.62 (0.34) (1.01–2.18) 1.45 (0.38) (0.82–2.22) 0.05 Plasma LDL cholesterol, mean (SD) (range), mmol/L 3.73 (0.84) (1.67–6.01) 3.57 (0.94) (1.14–5.55) Plasma triglycerides, mean (SD) (range), mmol/L 1.19 (0.53) (0.69–3.22) 1.26 (0.56) (0.40–2.37) 0.49 ω-3 Supplement use, yes (%) 6 (19.4) 1 (3.2) 0.10 Smoking, no (%) 0.55 Never smoker 19 (61.3) 21 (67.7) <20 pack-year 5 (16.1) 6 (19.3) ≥20pack-year 7 (22.6) 4 (13.0) LIMPIA study Supplemented (n = 29) Placebo (n = 26) p value Age, mean (SD) (range), y 57.7 (6.3) (44.6–70.2) 55.6 (6.9) (44.3–66.1) 0.22 Female, no (%) 22 (75.9) 20 (76.9) 0.93 BMI, mean (SD), kg/m² 24.2 (3.5) (19.2–31.3) 23.8 (3.8) (18.1–32.8) 0.74 Plasma total cholesterol, mean (SD) (range), mmol/L 5.85 (0.81) (4.32–7.62) 5.84 (0.72) (4.28–7.53) 0.95 Plasma HDL cholesterol, mean (SD) (range), mmol/L 1.73 (0.37) (1.14–2.54) 1.74 (0.56) (0.98–3.44) 0.94 Plasma LDL cholesterol, mean (SD) (range), mmol/L 3.58 (0.77) (1.74–4.98) 3.58 (0.73) (1.37–4.82) 0.99 Plasma triglycerides, mean (SD) (range), mmol/L 1.19 (0.44) (0.61–2.16) 1.14 (0.42) (0.50–1.98) 0.68 Smoking, no (%) 0.85 Never smoker 16 (61.5) 16 (55.2) <20 pack-year 6 (23.1) 7 (24.1) ≥20pack-year 4 (15.4) 6 (20.7) Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; HDL, high density lipoprotein; LDL, low density lipoprotein; SD, standard deviation.