Effect of systemic administration of isotretinoin on blood lipids and fatty acids in acne patients.

Background: In many studies, an increase in total cholesterol and triglycerides with isotretinoin therapy have been shown and investigators have commented on potential cardiovascular risk. A low intake of linoleic acid, the main essential fatty acid in man, may act as an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease. In vitro etretin alters both the incorporation of extracellular fatty acids into cell membranes and the fatty acid composition of the cell membrane itself.

Relationship between plasma essential fatty acids and smoking, serum lipids, blood pressure and haemostatic and rheological factors.

We aimed to determine whether levels of plasma fatty acids are correlated with other potential risk factors for cardiovascular disease, using a sample of patients from a cross-sectional survey of the general population, in the City of Edinburgh. 306 men and women aged 55-74 years of whom half had clinical evidence of arterial disease were tested. The main outcome measures were plasma fatty acids and potential risk factors for cardiovascular disease (age, sex, smoking, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TGs), lipid peroxides (LPx), plasma fibrinogen, von-Willebrand factor (vWf), beta-thromboglobulin (beta TG), cross-linked fibrin degradation products (FIBDP) and plasminogen activator inhibitor PAI).

Quantification of stratum corneum ceramides and lipid envelope ceramides in the hereditary ichthyoses.

Ceramides (sphingolipids) are the main polar lipids of the stratum corneum and play an important role in skin barrier function, cell adhesion and epidermal differentiation. In view of the function of ceramides in normal skin, this study aimed to assess their levels in patients with various types of hereditary ichthyosis, in which epidermal homeostasis is markedly abnormal. Stratum corneum samples were collected from 80 patients and 23 normal controls, and the intercellular and lipid envelope ceramides were analysed by high-performance thin-layer chromatography.

Is the reduction of myocardial infarct size by dietary fish oil the result of altered platelet function?

Sprague-Dawley rats fed a diet containing 12% fish oil (18% eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] and 12% docosahexaenoic acid [DHA]), for 1 week (group I, n = 9) or 8 weeks (group III, n = 42) and controls (group II, n = 8; group IV, n = 36, respectively) were subjected to 35 minutes of left coronary artery occlusion followed by 120 minutes of reperfusion. Compared to the controls, infarct size was significantly reduced in group III (15% +/- 2%, n = 42 vs 34% +/- 4%, n = 36; p < 0.001; infarct mass/risk area x 100%), but no change in group I (39% +/- 5%, n = 9 vs 35% +/- 5%, n = 8; p = not significant).

A red cell membrane abnormality in a subgroup of schizophrenic patients: evidence for two diseases.

There are several reports of abnormalities in fatty acids in brain and blood phospholipids in schizophrenic patients. In order to see if the broad categories of negative and positive schizophrenia were linked to specific changes in fatty acids, an initial study was made of patients showing severe symptoms of these two types. Thirteen patients had persistent chronic negative symptoms of apathy and withdrawal while 12 patients had persistent positive symptoms of either thought disorder or hallucinations and delusions.