Lipids in Health and Disease · 2 authors, 2 centres
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This narrative review summarizes evidence on Mead acid (MA), an n-9 polyunsaturated fatty acid synthesized from oleic acid during essential fatty acid deficiency. The review highlights MA's widespread distribution in normal tissues, its conversion to lipid mediators, and emerging associations with inflammation, cancer, dermatitis, and cystic fibrosis.
This narrative review by Kawashima and Yoshizawa synthesizes existing literature on Mead acid (5,8,11-eicosatrienoic acid), an n-9 polyunsaturated fatty acid first identified in rats fed a fat-deficient diet. MA is synthesized from oleic acid when arachidonic acid production from linoleic acid is impaired due to essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency. The review describes MA's biosynthesis via desaturase and elongase enzymes, its distribution across normal tissues, and its metabolism to lipid mediators by lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase. MA is widely used as a biomarker of EFA deficiency, with MA/ARA ratios employed clinically. EFA deficiency accompanied by MA appearance is associated with skin rash, alopecia, growth disorders, and reproductive abnormalities. The authors note that MA may be produced even in EFA-sufficient conditions in avascular tissues, and that MA-derived lipid mediators remain incompletely characterized.
