Background
Epidemiological surveys and peripheral tissue (red blood cells/plasma) fatty acid
composition studies suggest that omega-3 fatty acid deficiency is associated with
major depressive disorder (MDD) and suicide. It was hypothesized that patients with
MDD would exhibit lower frontal cortical concentrations of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA),
the principal omega-3 fatty acid in brain, relative to normal controls.
Methods
We determined the total fatty acid composition of postmortem orbitofrontal cortex
(Brodmann’s Area 10) from patients with DSM-IV-defined MDD (n = 15) and age-matched normal controls (n = 27) by gas chromatography.
Results
After correction for multiple comparisons, the omega-3 fatty acid DHA was the only
fatty acid that was significantly different (−22%) in the postmortem orbitofrontal
cortex of MDD patients relative to normal controls. Deficits in DHA concentrations
were greater in female MDD patients (−32%) than in male MDD patients (−16%), and could
not be wholly attributed to lifestyle factors or postmortem tissue variables.
Conclusions
These results demonstrate a selective deficit in the omega-3 fatty acid DHA in the
orbitofrontal cortex of patients with MDD. This finding adds to a growing body of
evidence implicating omega-3 fatty acid deficiency as well as the orbitofrontal cortex
in the pathophysiology and potentially pathogenesis of MDD.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 27, 2006
Accepted:
August 19,
2006
Received in revised form:
August 4,
2006
Received:
June 30,
2006
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
