Abnormalities in the fatty-acid composition of the serum phospholipids of stroke patients.

The incidence of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and myocardial infarction is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa. Since dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are protective of the cardiovascular system in humans, we were interested in the question of the PUFA status of adults in northern Nigeria who had experienced a recent stroke. We collected blood from 21 consecutive admissions for stroke (15 male patients, mean age 39.3 years and six females, mean age 40.7 years) to the Federal Medical Centre in Gombe, Nigeria and analyzed the fatty-acid composition of the serum phospholipids. Blood was collected from 30 healthy controls for comparison. The contribution palmitic acid made to the fatty-acid total was greatly decreased in the phospholipids of the stroke patients (29.2% versus 37.2 %, p < 0.001). However, the phospholipids of the stroke patients had significantly higher percentages of 20-, 22-, and 24-carbon saturated fatty acids, as well as higher proportions of the omega-6 fatty-acid, arachidonic acid (11.4 versus 8.14%, p < 0.001), and the omega-3 fatty-acid, docosahexaenoic acid (3.21 versus 1.80%, p < 0.001). Using the percentages and melting points of the individual fatty acids, we estimated that the acyl chains of the serum phospholipids of the stroke patients had a lower mean melting point than the controls (27.8 versus 34.6 degrees C, p < 0.001). Assuming that serum phospholipids are surrogates for tissue phospholipids, we conclude that the tissue membranes of the stroke patients may be considerably more fluid than those of the controls.