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Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Isolation of Atrial Myocytes from Adult Mice
Published on: July 25, 2019
Associations of serum n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids with plasma natriuretic peptides
R Daneshmand1, S Kurl1, T-P Tuomainen1
1Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio Campus, Kuopio, Finland.
Background/Objectives:
The n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but little is known about their association with natriuretic peptides (NPs), a marker for CVD risk. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of serum n-3 and n-6 PUFAs with NPs.
Subjects/Methods:
A cross-sectional analysis of the association between serum n-3 and n-6 PUFAs with plasma N-terminal atrial (NT-proANP) and brain (NT-proBNP) NPs in a population-based sample of 985 men aged 46-65 years from Eastern Finland.
Results:
After adjustment for age and examination year, only serum n-6 PUFA arachidonic acid (ARA) was inversely associated with NT-proANP (P-trend across quartiles=0.02), but further adjustments for conventional risk factors (body mass index, smoking, alcohol intake, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and history of CVD) attenuated the association (P-trend=0.10). The associations with the other PUFAs were not statistically significant. Among the PUFAs, only serum n-3 PUFA docosapentaenoic acid (DPA; P-trend=0.03) and ARA (P-trend=0.02) had inverse associations with NT-proBNP after adjustment for age and examination years. The associations were again attenuated after further adjustments but remained statistically significant for DPA (P-trend=0.05). Our results also suggested that the inverse associations may be more evident among those using beta-blockers.
Conclusions:
Our study suggests little overall impact of serum n-3 or n-6 PUFAs on plasma NPs.
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