Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2023 May 26;24(11):9340. doi: 10.3390/ijms24119340

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

© 2023 by the authors.

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

PMC Copyright notice

Schematic representation of signaling pathways of n-3 and n-6 PUFAs with indications of the metabolites and enzymes implicated. Dietary linoleic acid (LA, n-6 PUFAs) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, n-3 PUFAs) are both metabolized by the actions of elongases and desaturases to downstream key metabolites, among which are arachidonic acid (AA, n-6 PUFAs), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, n-3 PUFAs) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, n-3 PUFAs). PUFAs are mainly metabolized by cyclooxygenase (COX), lipoxygenase (LOX) and cytochrome P450 enzymes producing prostaglandin, leukotrienes and endocannabinoids. Red color highlights n-6 PUFA pathways, while green color highlights n-3 PUFA pathway.