FIGURE 4.

Putative model for the effect of n–3 PUFAs on lipid rafts. Lipid rafts are nanoscale regions of the plasma membrane, enriched in cholesterol, sphingomyelin, and phospholipids containing saturated acyl chains. Both transmembrane and peripheral membrane proteins can be localized to lipid rafts. Upon treatment with a combination of n–3 PUFAs or DHA alone, these PUFAs are incorporated into phospholipids, which are inserted into both raft and nonraft regions of the plasma membrane. This results in enhanced clustering of lipid raft regions, which are depleted of cholesterol and sphingomyelin. In addition, many lipid raft–associated proteins “mislocalize” to the bulk membrane domain. This results in a suppression of lipid raft–mediated processes, including T cell activation and downstream signal transduction. Reproduced from reference 61 with permission.