[Elongation of fatty acids in the nervous system]

Brain contains two families of fatty acids, their localization and thus their function are different. Polyunsaturated fatty acids are mainly found in grey matter and are related to neuronal activity: C20:4 and C22:6 (omega 6 and omega 3, respectively) are quantitatively very important; it is not known if their synthesis occurs in situ (from C18 - essential fatty acids only in trace amount in brain) or if they originate from an extracerebral pool. Saturated fatty acids are mainly found in myelin. Saturated fatty acid biosynthesis occurs in three subcellular comportments: cytosol, mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum: the same enzymes elongate saturated as well as monounsaturated homologues. In contrast the synthesis of polyunsaturated fatty acids is hardly known: elongation-desaturation mechanisms shown in the liver are also possibly present in the brain. The regulation of fatty acid biosynthesis is studied at two levels: --level of metabolic pathways: occurence of elongation is related to cell differciation, lipidic receptors being also involved; --level of enzymatic activities: elongation is the result of successive reaction and regulation is acting on condensing enzyme for saturated fatty acid biosynthesis, this enzyme determines kinetics of the overall chain lengthening and the chain length specificity.