Purpose:
A low ratio of serum eicosapentaenoic acid to arachidonic acid (EPA/AA) has been associated with atherosclerotic disease. Few studies investigate the association of serum fatty acid (FA) composition with the acute ischemic stroke so far. Our aim of this study is to evaluate the relationships between FA composition and stroke subtypes, extra-/intracranial atherosclerotic stenoses, and other cerebrovascular indicators
Methods:
This study included 154 consecutive patients who were admitted to our hospital because of acute ischemic stroke between April 2011 and March 2012. We examined the FA composition and classical vascular risk factors. We conducted brain MRI/MRA, carotid ultrasonogram, transthoracic echocardiogram, 24hr Holter electrocardiogram, ankle brachial index (ABI) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) in order to evaluate the severity of atherosclerotic change, stroke subtype, and cardiovascular status.
Results:
The mean value of EPA/AA was 0.33±0.22 in all patients with acute cerebral infarction. The 154 patients in this study (mean age 71 years) were categorized as follows; large artery atherosclerosis (LA; n=57), small artery occlusion (SA; n=48), cardiogenic embolism (CE; n=18), and others (n=31). We found intracranial artery stenosis greater than 50% in 70 patients (45%). The intracranial artery stenosis was associated with low EPA/AA ratio (P=0.013) and low EPA concentration (P=0.013). This association remained significant (P<0.05) after controlling for classical atherosclerotic risk factors. We could not find a significant correlation between FA composition and stroke subtype. However, there was a tendency for the EPA/AA ratio of LA patients to be the lowest among all subtype groups. The EPA/AA ratio was not associated with ABI, PWV, prevalence of arrhythmia, or cardiac function.
Conclusions:
A low EPA/AA ratio was significantly associated with intracranial stenosis in patients with acute ischemic stroke. This study shows the EPA/AA ratio might be an important marker to reflect the cerebral artery stenosis.
Arachidonic Acid but not Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) and Oleic Acid Activates NF-κB and Elevates ICAM-1 Expression in Caco-2 Cells
