. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Apr 1.

Published in final edited form as: Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2010 Mar 12;82(4-6):273–276. doi: 10.1016/j.plefa.2010.02.015

Table 3.

DHA synthesis rates from α-LNA by liver but not by brain exceed brain DHA consumption rates with each of 3 diets (5-min i.v. [1-¹⁴C]α-LNA infusion). From [17-19, 23, 29, 30].

Diet	C_brain (DHA) [C_brain (α-LNA)]	c_plasma (DHA) [c_plasma (α-LNA)]	Estimated rate of DHA consumption by 1.5 g brain, J_in	Estimated rate of DHA formation from α-LNA by 1.5 g brain,	Estimated rate of DHA secretion by 11.5 g liver
	μmol/g	nmol/ml	μmol/day	μmol/day	μmol/day
High DHA, fishmeal containing NIH-31-18-4 diet (2.3% FA)	17.6 ± 0.3^# [0.010 ± 0.002]	26 ± 12 [41 ± 13]	0.23	0.002	1.57
High α-LNA diet (4.6% FA); no DHA	11.4 ± 0.8 [0.16 ± 0.003]	6.5 ± 2.6 [27 ± 6]	0.29	0.0016	2.19
Low α-LNA diet (0.2% FA); no DHA	7.14 ± 0.24 [ND]	0.23 ± 0.10 [1.0 ± 0.45]	0.06	0.0000006	0.82

Mean ± SD; FA = fatty acid; ND, not detected; C_brain, brain concentration; C_plasma, plasma concentration; J_in, brain incorporation (consumption) rate (Eq. 2).