Table 4.

Fatty acid composition of red blood cell sphingomyelin of HU-untreated (n = 17) and treated (n = 19) HbSS patients and HbAA healthy controls (n = 20).

Fatty acids	HbSS (untreated)	HbSS (treated)	HbAA (healthy control)
16:0	21.1 ± 4.3*	25.3 ± 3.5	26.1 ± 2.2++
18:0	8.7 ± 2.2*	11.9 ± 3.5	11.3 ± 2.0++
20:0	2.0 ± 0.2	1.00 ± 0.2×××	1.44 ± 0.2+++
22:0	8.1 ± 1.5*	6.6 ± 1.3	7.6 ± 1.1
24:0	25.3 ± 4.8***	18.5 ± 2.9××	21.6 ± 2.6+
∑saturates	63.9 ± 3.8	63.8 ± 3.1×××	68.2 ± 1.4++
16:1n-7	tr.	tr.	tr.
18:1n-7	0.3 ± 0.1***	0.7 ± 0.1××	0.5 ± 0.1+++
18:1n-9	3.8 ± 1.9	3.4 ± 0.6×××	2.0 ± 0.3++
24:1n-9	17.8 ± 3.6**	14.2 ± 1.7	13.9 ± 1.7++
∑monoenes	21.9 ± 2.8***	18.3 ± 2.0×	16.5 ± 1.8+++
18:2n-6	2.1 ± 1.1	2.3 ± 0.6	2.0 ± 0.3
18:3n-6	tr.	tr.	tr.
20:2n-6	0.4 ± 0.3**	0.1 ± 0.04××	0.09 ± 0.04++
20:3n-6	0.3 ± 0.1**	0.5 ± 0.1××	0.3 ± 0.1
20:4n-6	3.7 ± 1.3*	4.9 ± 1	5.1 ± 1.3++
22:4n-6	1.8 ± 1.0	2.0 ± 0.8×	1.3 ± 0.4
22:5n-6	1.4 ± 0.6	1.3 ± 0.6	1.1 ± 0.3
∑metabolites	7.5 ± 2.9	8.4 ± 1.9	7.9 ± 2.1
∑n-6	9.6 ± 3.5	10.8 ± 1.7	9.9 ± 2.2
18:3n-3	tr.	tr.	tr.
20:5n-3	0.11 ± 0.02***	0.07 ± 0.02	0.06 ± 0.02+++
22:5n-3	0.4 ± 0.2	0.45 ± 0.2	0.4 ± 0.1
22:6n-3	1.4 ± 0.7	1.8 ± 0.8	1.7 ± 0.6
∑metabolites	1.9 ± 0.8	2.4 ± 0.9	2.1 ± 0.7
∑n-3	1.9 ± 0.8	2.4 ± 0.9	2.1 ± 0.7
N6/N3	5.3 ± 1.6	5.3 ± 1.7	4.9 ± 1.1

tr.: trace.

HU-untreated versus treated HbSS patients: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.

HU-untreated HbSS patients versus HbAA healthy controls: ⁺ P < 0.05, ⁺⁺ P < 0.01, ⁺⁺⁺ P < 0.001.

HU-treated HbSS patients versus HbAA healthy controls: ^× P < 0.05, ^×× P < 0.01, ^××× P < 0.001.