There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
On the basis of evidence from studies showing the antidepressant effects of omega-3
polyunsaturated fatty acids and the inverse relation between fish consumption and
the prevalence of depression, the phospholipid hypothesis seems promising in ascertaining
the etiology and treatment of depression. Although several studies have shown lower
levels of omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids in depressive patients, the results
of individual polyunsaturated fatty acids, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic
acid (EPA), and the omega-6 (n-6) polyunsaturated fatty acid arachidonic acid (AA),
were inconsistent.
We conducted the meta-analyses of 14 studies comparing the levels of polyunsaturated
fatty acids between depressive patients and control subjects. The effect size of each
study was synthesized by using a random effects model.
Compared with control subjects, the levels of EPA, DHA, and total n-3 polyunsaturated
fatty acids were significantly lower in depressive patients. There was no significant
change in AA or total n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
The results showed lower levels of EPA, DHA, and total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
in patients with depression, thus implying that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids play
a role in the pathogenesis of depression. Our findings provide further support to
the phospholipid hypothesis of depression and a rationale for using n-3 polyunsaturated
fatty acids as an alternative treatment for depression. With these results, future
studies examining specific roles of DHA and EPA in different clusters of depressive
symptoms are warranted.
Copyright 2010 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.