ABSTRACT
Abundant experimental evidence supports the view that prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and leukotrienes, collectively termed eicosanoids, participate in the development and regulation of immunological and inflammatory responses. Arachidonic acid is the major fatty acid substrate for cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase in cells from individuals on standard Western diets. An approach to the modulation of the generation and activities of eicosanoids is to provide substrates alternative to arachidonate for oxidative metabolism. Diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, characterized by abnormal immune responses, persistent inflammation, and tissue injury, may therefore be amenable to control by dietary means. Immune complex-induced vasculitis appears to be an early event at sites of inflammation in systemic lupus erythematosus patients and in subsynovial vessels in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Systemic prostacyclin treatment prolongs survival and inhibits pulmonary vascular changes associated with the intravenous infusion of endotoxin. Supplementation of diet with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids increases the likelihood of lipid peroxidation with its associated toxic effects on cells.
