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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Sep 21.
Published in final edited form as: Hepatology. 2009 Dec;50(6):1827–1838. doi: 10.1002/hep.23229

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

NAFLD is associated with increased Δ 6 desaturase activity. The composite fatty acid methyl esters data from all lipid classes reflective of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) metabolism is displayed as pathway maps (A: NAFL versus Normal, and B: NASH versus normal). Significant changes are shown as red for increase or green for decrease; gray color reflects no significant change. (C) A generalized trend is seen for an increase in γ-linolenic acid (GLA, 18:3n6) to linoleic acid (18:2n6) ratios with significant changes in free fatty acid (FFA) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) pools. This is indicative of increased Δ 6 desaturase (Δ6DS) activity, which is also reflected in (A) and (B),1 with increased product (GLA) shown as red and decreased precursor (linoleic acid) shown as green. In addition to changes in other fatty acids, the concentration of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n3) is also decreased in both NAFL (A) and NASH (B). Data in bar graph expressed as means ± SEM. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 versus normal.