ABSTRACT
The therapeutic significance of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3), has been clearly indicated by recent clinical and epidemiological studies (1,2). EPA performs many vital functions in biological membranes and serves as a precursor of a variety of lipid regulators in cellular metabolism; as a result, it plays an important role in the treatment of various human diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, cancers, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder (3-8). These findings have led to considerable interest in developing commercial processes to produce EPA (9,10).
