Abnormality of very long-chain fatty acids of erythrocyte membrane in alcoholic patients

Molecular cloning and characterization of a KCS gene from Cardamine graeca and its heterologous expression in Brassica oilseeds to engineer high nervonic acid oils for potential medical and industrial use

Nervonic acid 24:1 Delta15 (cis-tetracos-15-enoic acid) is a very long-chain monounsaturated fatty acid and exists in nature as an elongation product of oleic acid. There is an increasing interest in production of high nervonic acid oils for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and industrial applications. Using a polymerase chain reaction approach, we have isolated a gene from Cardamine graeca L., which encodes a 3-ketoacyl-CoA synthase (KCS), the first component of the elongation complex involved in synthesis of nervonic acid. Expression of the Cardamine KCS in yeast resulted in biosynthesis of nervonic acid, which is not normally present in yeast cells. We transformed Arabidopsis and Brassica carinata with the Cardamine KCS under the control of the seed-specific promoter, napin. The T(3) generations of transgenic Arabidopsis and B. carinata plants expressing the Cardamine KCS showed that seed-specific expression resulted in relatively large comparative increases in nervonic acid proportions in Arabidopsis seed oil, and 15-fold increase in nervonic acid proportions in B. carinata seed oil. The highest nervonic acid level in transgenic B. carinata lines reached 44%, with only 6% of residual erucic acid. In contrast, similar transgenic expression of the Cardamine KCS in high erucic B. napus resulted in 30% nervonic acid but with 20% residual erucic acid. Experiments using the Lunaria KCS gene gave results similar to the latter. In both cases, the erucic acid content is too high for human or animal consumption. Thus, the Cardamine KCS: B. carinata high nervonic/highly reduced erucic transgenic seed oils will be the most suitable for testing in pharmaceutical/nutraceutical applications to improve human and animal health.

Prevalence of fatty acid ethyl esters in meconium specimens

BACKGROUND

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), alcohol-related birth defects (ARBDs), and alcohol-related neurodevelopment disorders (ARNDs) in neonates are often the result of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Facial characteristics are associated with FAS, but ARBDs and ARNDs are more difficult to diagnose. Fetal exposure to alcohol can cause central nervous system dysfunction, pre- and postnatal growth problems, cardiac defects in neonates, and attention deficit disorders and mental retardation in older children. To date, diagnosis of fetal alcohol effect has depended largely on maternal interview, although clinical tests are becoming more widely used. Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) are formed in the body by esterification of ethanol with free fatty acids and trans-esterification of glycerides and have been detected in the meconium of newborns. This report estimates the prevalence of fetal alcohol exposure in two populations by detecting FAEEs in meconium.

METHODS

We analyzed the prevalence of FAEEs in the meconium of two separate groups of neonates by use of solid-phase extraction and analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in the chemical ionization mode. In the first study, meconium samples were taken anonymously from babies born in a large, regional perinatal center in Hawaii. In the second study, specimens were obtained from infants admitted to six different newborn intensive care units within the state of Utah.

RESULTS

In the first study, 73 of 436 (16.7%) meconium specimens tested were considered positive for FAEEs. When broken down into quartiles, the mean total FAEEs measured were 1,059, 3,133, 6,628, and 62,115 ng/g. In the second study, 35 of 289 (12.1%) specimens were considered positive. When broken into quartiles, the mean total FAEEs were 1,139, 3,067, 7,674, and 50,143 ng/g. The overall FAEE profiles of the two study sets were remarkably similar.

CONCLUSION

In an adequate meconium specimen, a total FAEE concentration >10,000 ng/g may indicate that the newborn has been exposed to significant amounts of alcohol during pregnancy.

Fatty acid ethyl esters: a novel biologic marker for heavy in utero ethanol exposure: a case report

The authors report testing the meconium of a newborn for the presence of FAEE. Meconium from a newborn of a woman who acknowledged drinking beer throughout pregnancy was tested. The authors also tested the meconiums of 3 newborns whose mothers did not drink at all while pregnant. The FAEE were extracted from the meconium samples using solid phase extraction (SPE), and were identified and quantitated by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (FID). For assignment of retention times and determination of individual concentrations, authentic mixtures of FAEE were injected. The total FAEE concentration in the meconium of the alcohol-exposed infant was 13126 ng/g compared to a mean of 410 ng/g in the control meconiums. Also, in this case, palmitic, linoleic, and stearic ethyl esters were found in the alcohol-exposed infant's meconium while they were not found in the unexposed infant's meconium. In a parallel experiment, the authors spiked increasing amounts of ethyl alcohol (0-40mM) into the meconium from a newborn that was not exposed to ethanol in utero. The spiked samples were incubated for 4 hours at 37 degrees C and subsequently assayed for the presence of ethyl linoleate. In these experiments, they document for the first time that FAEE is produced in meconium. If confirmed by large studies, FAEE may become the first neonatal biologic marker for babies at risk for alcohol-related birth defects.

Impact of addictive and harmful substances on fetal brain development

Animal models of alcohol, nicotine, and cocaine exposure have provided convincing evidence for prenatal effects on brain development caused by alterations in cell migration, signal transduction, and neurotransmitter function. The extrapolation to effects on the human nervous system is confounded by the multiplicity of factors affecting central nervous system development.