Comparison of erythrocyte omega-3 index, fatty acids and molecular phospholipid species in people at ultra-high risk of developing psychosis and healthy people

Ayedh Alqarni; Todd W Mitchell; Patrick D McGorry; Barnaby Nelson; Connie Markulev; Hok Pan Yuen; Miriam R Schäfer; Maximus Berger; Nilufar Mossaheb; Monika Schlögelhofer; Stefan Smesny; Ian B Hickie; Gregor E Berger; Eric Y H Chen; Lieuwe de Haan; Dorien H Nieman; Merete Nordentoft; Anita Riecher-Rössler; Swapna Verma; Andrew Thompson; Alison Ruth Yung; G Paul Amminger; Barbara J Meyer

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2019.06.020

Comparison of erythrocyte omega-3 index, fatty acids and molecular phospholipid species in people at ultra-high risk of developing psychosis and healthy people

Schizophr Res. 2020 Dec:226:44-51. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.06.020. Epub 2019 Jul 10.

Authors

Ayedh Alqarni¹, Todd W Mitchell², Patrick D McGorry³, Barnaby Nelson³, Connie Markulev³, Hok Pan Yuen³, Miriam R Schäfer³, Maximus Berger³, Nilufar Mossaheb⁴, Monika Schlögelhofer⁴, Stefan Smesny⁵, Ian B Hickie⁶, Gregor E Berger⁷, Eric Y H Chen⁸, Lieuwe de Haan⁹, Dorien H Nieman⁹, Merete Nordentoft¹⁰, Anita Riecher-Rössler¹¹, Swapna Verma¹², Andrew Thompson¹³, Alison Ruth Yung¹⁴, G Paul Amminger³, Barbara J Meyer¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, Molecular Horizons, Lipid Research Centre, University of Wollongong, and Illawarra Health & Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, Australia; King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam City, Saudi Arabia.
² School of Medicine, Molecular Horizons, Lipid Research Centre, University of Wollongong, and Illawarra Health & Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, Australia.
³ Orygen - The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, Parkville, Australia; The Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany.
⁶ Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁷ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam University Medical Centers (location AMC), Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
¹⁰ Psychiatric Centre Bispebjerg, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹¹ University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Basel, Switzerland.
¹² Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, Singapore.
¹³ Division of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; North Warwickshire Early Intervention in Psychosis Service, Coventry and Warwickshire National Health Service Partnership Trust, Coventry, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
¹⁴ Institute of Brain, Behaviour, and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Greater Manchester West National Health Service Mental Health Foundation Trust, Manchester, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
¹⁵ School of Medicine, Molecular Horizons, Lipid Research Centre, University of Wollongong, and Illawarra Health & Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, Australia. Electronic address: bmeyer@uow.edu.au.

PMID: 31301881
DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.06.020

Abstract

People classified as ultra-high risk (UHR) of developing psychosis have reduced cellular membrane omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). We aimed to compare omega-3 index, fatty acids and molecular phospholipid species from erythrocytes of people with UHR (n = 285) with age-matched healthy controls (n = 120) assessed by mass spectrometry. Lower proportions of PUFA were observed in the UHR group compared to healthy controls; specifically, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) was 29.3% lower, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was 27.2% lower, arachidonic acid (AA) was 15.8% lower and the omega-3 index was 26.9% lower. The AA to EPA ratio was higher in the UHR group compared to the healthy group. Smoking status had no significant effect on PUFA levels in healthy or the UHR groups. BMI was associated with PUFA levels in the UHR group only and the statistical model only explains 2% of the variance of the PUFA levels. The proportion of nervonic acid was 64.4% higher in the UHR group compared to healthy controls. At a lipid class level, the UHR group had 16% higher concentrations of sphingomyelin (SM) and 46% lower concentrations phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) compared to healthy group. Of the 49 individual molecular phospholipids, twenty-seven phospholipid species were lower in the UHR group. In conclusion, there are clear differences in the proportions of erythrocyte fatty acids and phospholipids between UHR and healthy controls and UHR had higher concentrations of SM and lower concentrations of PE. These differences may represent a promising prodromal risk biomarker in the UHR population to aid clinical diagnosis.

Keywords: Omega-3 fatty acids; Phosphatidylcholine; Phosphatidylethanolamine; Phosphatidylserine; Phospholipids; Sphingomyelin.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Docosahexaenoic Acids
Eicosapentaenoic Acid
Erythrocytes
Fatty Acids
Fatty Acids, Omega-3*
Humans
Phospholipids
Psychotic Disorders*

Substances

Fatty Acids
Fatty Acids, Omega-3
Phospholipids
Docosahexaenoic Acids
Eicosapentaenoic Acid