Membrane effects of the n-3 fish oil fatty acids, which prevent fatal ventricular arrhythmias.

Fish oil fatty acids are known to exert beneficial effects on the heart and vascular systems. We have studied the membrane effects on ion channel conductance by the n-3 fish oil fatty acids that account for these beneficial effects. We have confirmed that these fatty acids prevent fatal cardiac arrhythmias in a reliable dog model of sudden cardiac death. This finding was followed by experiments indicating that the n-3 fatty acids electrically stabilize heart cells and do so largely through modulation of the fast voltage-dependent Na(+) currents and the L-type Ca(2+) channels in a manner, which makes the heart cells resistant to arrhythmias. Others and we have demonstrated that these membrane effects on the heart can prevent fatal cardiac arrhythmias in humans.