In adults aged 50–65 who eat little fish, taking a daily omega-3 supplement for one year raises levels of two specific lipid molecules, Resolvin D1 and Resolvin D4, by about 45% and 94% respectively....
Mechanism
Synthesis from 1 study
When people who don’t eat much fish take omega-3 supplements, their bodies use those fats to make special molecules that help stop inflammation and clean up damaged cells. This leads to higher levels of Resolvin D1 and D4, especially in those who started with less fish in their diet, even if the...
Most probable mechanism
When people take omega-3 supplements, the body absorbs the EPA and DHA fats and puts them into cell membranes. When there's inflammation, enzymes break these fats out of the membranes and turn them into special molecules that help calm down inflammation and clean up damaged cells. This process increases levels of Resolvin D1 and Resolvin D4, especially in people who didn't eat much fish before.
Dietary EPA and DHA from supplementation are absorbed into the bloodstream and incorporated into phospholipid membranes of immune and endothelial cells
Upon inflammatory activation, phospholipase enzymes release EPA and DHA from membrane phospholipids
EPA and DHA are metabolized by lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase enzymes into specialized pro-resolving mediators such as Resolvin D1 and Resolvin D4
Resolvin D1 and Resolvin D4 bind to specific G-protein-coupled receptors on immune cells, triggering signaling that promotes phagocytosis of apoptotic cells and reduces production of pro-inflammatory mediators
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
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