Table 1.
Fatty acid composition of the normal and diabetic mouse retina
| Normal (N) |
Diabetic (D) |
Ratio of amount in diabetic vs. normal (D/N) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| relative % of the total fatty acids | amount, μg/100 μg dry retinal weight | relative % of the total fatty acids | amount, μg/100 μg dry retinal weight | ||
| Palmitic acid (PA) | 31.5 ± 2.2 | 1.33 8 0.09 | 36.5 ± 4.9* | 4.9 ± 0.66* | 3.7 |
| Linolenic acid (LA) | trace | – | 5.2 ± 0.7 | 0.7 ± 0.1 | |
| Oleic acid (OA) | 18.9 ± 1.5 | 0.81 ± 0.06 | 23.6 ± 1.9* | 3.2 ± 0.26* | 4 |
| Stearic acid (SA) | 25.3 ± 3.6 | 1.1 ± 0.15 | 27.4 ± 3.8 | 3.7 ± 0.51* | 3.4 |
| Arachidonic acid (AA) | 9.7 ± 1.7 | 0.4 ± 0.07 | 8.7 ± 4.7 | 1.2 ± 0.63* | 3 |
| Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) | 12.5 ± 2 | 0.62 ± 0.3 | 5.5 ± 3.5* | 0.87 ± 0.4* | 1.4 |
The values represent the individual fatty acids as percentage of the total fatty acids in the chromatogram. The absolute amounts of the individual fatty acids are also shown, in terms of micrograms per 100 μg dry weight of the retina. Data are expressed as mean 8 SD; n (number of retinas) ≤8 in each case except linolenic acid which was at detectable level in only 2 chromatograms from the diabetic group. A significant difference is apparent in the percentage content of PA, OA and DHA between the normal and diabetic retina.
The p values for these differences are as follows: PA and OA <0.001 and DHA <0.001. The differences in the absolute amounts of PA, OA, SA, and AA were also very significant; p < 0.001, and 0.05 for DHA.