Lipid Profile, Lipoprotein Subfractions, and Fluidity of Membranes in Children and Adolescents with Depressive Disorder: Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in A Double-blind Randomized Controlled Study

Abstract

Depressive disorder (DD) is a psychiatric disorder whose molecular basis is not fully understood. It is assumed that reduced consumption of fish and omega-3 fatty acids (FA) is associated with DD. Other lipids like total cholesterol (TCH), LDL- and HDL-cholesterols (LDL-CH, HDL-CH) also play a role in depression. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between depressive disorder symptoms and lipid profile, LDL- and HDL-cholesterol subfractions, Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activities and erythrocyte membrane fluidity in 58 depressive children and adolescents, as well as the effect of omega-3 FA on the monitored parameters. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), lipid profile by standard biochemical procedures, LDL- and HDL-subfractions by the Lipoprint system. Basic biochemical parameters including lipid profile were compared with levels in 20 healthy children and were in the physiological range. We are the first to report that omega-3 FAs increase after 12 weeks of supplementation large HDL subfractions (anti-atherogenic) and decrease small HDL subfractions (pro-atherogenic) in depressed children. We found a negative correlation between CDI score and HDL-CH and large HDL subfraction, but not LDL-CH subfractions. CDI score was not associated with erythrocyte membrane fluidity. Our results suggest that HDL-CH and its subfractions, but not LDL-CH may play a role in the pathophysiology of depressive disorder.

The Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Thromboxane, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Homocysteine, and Vitamin D in Depressive Children and Adolescents: Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The baseline characteristics of study participants already published [ 9 , 40 ] are presented in Table 1 .…”

“…These findings support the conclusions of DiNicolantonio and OKeefe [ 44 ], that an inflammatory response of the organism plays an important role in the pathophysiology of DD in children. Moreover, our previously published results [ 9 , 40 ] suggest that the omega-6/omega-3 FA ratio plays a role in the pathophysiology of DD in pediatric patients. In our pediatric patients supplemented with omega-3 FA, the plasma TXB levels were significantly reduced after 12 weeks, as compared to the omega-6 FA group.…”

“…Subjects, inclusion and exclusion criteria, study design and intervention, randomization, patient enrollment, and treatment have been described in detail in our previous works [ 9 , 40 ].…”

“…In our DEPOXIN project (Molecular basis of depression disorder and influence of omega-3 fatty acid on clinical symptoms and biomarkers), we have demonstrated the effect of fish oil emulsion rich in omega-3 FA on depressive symptoms in children and adolescents with DD (the primary outcomes) [ 9 , 40 ]. The aim of our project was to find the relationship of plasma thromboxane B2, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, homocysteine, and serum vitamin D levels with the depression severity, the omega-6/omega-3 FA ratio, serum EPA, and DHA concentrations in depressed children and adolescents (the secondary outcomes), as well as their comparison with healthy controls.…”

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“…• Mild depression (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19) • Severe depression (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30) All the patients received physical examination, laboratory tests and comprehensive psychological evaluations. We retrieved demographic information (age, sex, ethnicity and smoking) and clinical information (height, weight, body mass index, blood pressure, glucose serum levels and a lipid panel serum).…”