Fatty Acid Supplements for Improved Retinal Function

Article: Synthesized Very-Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Improved Retinal Function in Mice
Source: University of Utah Health, via ScienceDaily  and NEI
Published: February 4, 2021

Paul S. Bernstein, MD, PhD, and his colleagues at the University of Utah's Chemistry Department recently invented a method to synthesize large quantities of very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFAs), a necessary component in proper retinal function. This research is a step toward investigating whether or not giving these lipids as supplements to patients could improve eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and some inherited retinal diseases. VLC-PUFAs are normally synthesized in the body as a product of the ELOVL4 enzyme, the malfunctioning of which shortens the fatty acid chain and causes autosomal dominant inherited retinal diseases such as Stargardt macular dystrophy. ELOVL4 dysfunction is autosomal dominant in the sense that the mutant proteins lack the appropriate tags, do not go to the proper places in the cell, and overall disrupt proper protein and cellular function where they do end up. But what's interesting about the present study is that is doesn't take a genetics approach, other than using mouse models with defects in the ELOVL4 gene. Rather, Bernstein's lab focuses on nutritional interventions against eye disease. In mouse models thus far, the researchers found that VLC-PUFA supplementation increased levels of the lipids in the retina and improved visual function in both normal mice and mice with the ELOVL4 defect. Indeed, being able to synthesize the lipids in the form of a supplement would open up a new line of orally administered therapeutics for retinal diseases due to dysfunction of very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.

My rating of this study: ⭐⭐⭐

Gorusupudi A, Rallabandi R, Li B, et al. "Retinal bioavailability and functional effects of a synthetic very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid in mice." PNAS.  118(6):e2017739118. 9 February 2021. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2017739118