Research Article

The Pharmacokinetic Profile of a New Gastroresistant Capsule Preparation of Eicosapentaenoic Acid as the Free Fatty Acid

Table 3

Fatty acid content of red blood cell membranes in healthy volunteers (HV) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients.

Fatty acid Baseline 2 weeks 4 weeks 8 weeks Change in fatty acid content from baseline to week 8* %CV

HV n-6 PUFAsC18:2 LA10.5 ± 1.4**9.1 ± 17.7 ± 16.5 ± 1−4.0 (−4.5 to −3.5)***24.0
C20:4 AA14.5 ± 0.712.2 ± 1.210.1 ± 0.79.7 ± 0.6−4.8 (−5.2 to −4.3)17.9
n-3 PUFAsC20:5 EPA0.3 ± 0.11.7 ± 0.44 ± 0.54.5 ± 0.44.3 (4.0 to 4.5)9.8
C22:5 DPA0.8 ± 0.21.4 ± 0.42.2 ± 0.43.8 ± 0.72.9 (2.5 to 3.4)27.3
C22:6 DHA3 ± 0.53.3 ± 0.53.6 ± 0.74.2 ± 0.81.2 (0.7 to 1.7)69.4

IBD n-6 PUFAsC18:2 LA12.2 ± 1°11.1 ± 0.89.7 ± 0.87.8 ± 0.8−4.4 (−4.8 to −3.9)20.4
C20:4 AA18 ± 2.1°15.7 ± 1.914.1 ± 1.711.6 ± 1.5−6.5 (−7.4 to −5.5)31.0
n-3 PUFAsC20:5 EPA0.2 ± 0.11.1 ± 0.32.1 ± 0.44.3 ± 0.74.1 (3.7 to 4.4)16.3
C22:5 DPA0.4 ± 0.11.1 ± 0.62.2 ± 0.53.3 ± 0.42.8 (2.6 to 3.0)15.5
C22:6 DHA3.1 ± 0.53.7 ± 0.44.5 ± 0.45 ± 0.41.9 (1.6 to 2.2)33.5

Values are mean ± SD.
for the difference in individual n-3 PUFA content between IBD patients and HV.
*Absolute change in % fatty acid content.
***Data are the mean and 95% confidence interval. All ≤ 0.01.
PUFAs: polyunsaturated fatty acids.
LA: linoleic acid.
AA: arachidonic acid.
EPA: eicosapentaenoic acid.
DPA: docosapentaenoic acid.
DHA: docosahexaenoic acid.
CV: coefficient of variation.