To check the proposed hypothesis that the relative content of individual polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs)--substrates and inhibitors of prostanoid synthesis--in plasma can be regarded as a ...quantitative risk factor of blood clotting, a test was conducted on free fatty acids content in blood plasma of healthy people (group 0) and patients with heart ischemia before (group 1) and after (group 2) they were treated for a month with a food additive called "Eiconol," enriched with PUFA omega 3. Different proportions of PUFAs have been calculated in all cases, accounting for the contribution of each acid to the process of primary clotting. Comparison of PUFA rations among the three groups showed significant differences of means between groups 0 and 1 and also group 1 and 2 for 6 out of 7 proposed coefficients, which disappeared after "Eiconol" treatment (comparison of groups 0 and 2). The results led to the conclusion that out of the proposed PUFA proportions, the coefficients describing the relative content of arachidonic acid in blood plasma may be the most informative for diagnosis and treatment efficiently in evaluation of heart and vascular diseases.
Arachidonic acid (AA) is known to inhibit intercellular conductance in normal and tumour cells. We showed that junctional conductance (Gj) in isolated murine hepatocytes was relatively tolerant to ...the uncoupling effect of AA. Extracellular application of 100 microM AA decreased Gj in less than 50% of hepatocytes, and the effect was much slower in other cells (10-15 min vs. 2-5 min, respectively). The uncoupling effect of AA did not depend on the intracellular Ca2+ within the pCa(i) range 7.7-9.0. Similar results were obtained using the pipette-filling solutions with low (1 mM) and high (10 mM) concentrations of a Ca-chelating agent (EGTA). To verify whether the resistance of the hepatocyte Gj to AA may result from the "wash-out" of the intracellular intermediates during the intracellular dialysis, Gj was measured 10-45 min after the preincubation of hepatocytes with AA. After such a treatment, in 62% of cell pairs the Gj values recorded did not differ from the control. Extracellular or intracellular acidification (pHo 6.0 or pHi 5.0-6.0) did not markedly affect the AA action. However, in some cases AA induced the recovery of Gj blocked after intracellular acidification, the phenomenon suggesting the activation of the H+ transport in the presence of AA. Possible mechanisms of the observed resistance of junctional conductance of mouse hepatocytes in primary culture are discussed.
