Fig. 8.

Erythrocyte EPA abundance (EPA-index) and prevention of pathologic phenotypes following TAC in mice compared with EPA levels in humans. Upper section (mouse): EPA levels were plotted against TAC-induced pathology (interstitial fibrosis or diastolic dysfunction). EPA levels from this and our prior report (21) are plotted on the x axis (e.g., EPA-diet/2 week: mice were fed an EPA-supplemented diet for 2 weeks before TAC and the erythrocyte EPA levels at termination are plotted on the x axis). EPA-mediated prevention of fibrosis or diastolic dysfunction was assessed by calculating the percent inhibition [e.g., percent fibrosis in TAC EPA/(percent fibrosis TAC control diet − percent fibrosis sham control diet)] from this and our prior report (21), and is plotted on the y axis. Lower section (human): In FONIA, baseline erythrocyte EPA levels increased from 0.4 to 2.2% in a US patient (4 months, 3.4 g/day ω3-PUFAs; unpublished observations) versus untreated Japanese [2.8%, JELIS (52)].