Enhanced accumulation of free fatty acids in experimental focal cerebral ischemia

Cerebral ischemia is well known to cause an increase in the level of free fatty acids (FFAs) in rodent species. Such FFA accumulations may signal regional lipid membrane damage and are postulated to participate in the pathogenesis of progressive infarction after cerebral ischemia. In this study we have examined the regional levels of FFAS in the cortices of cats after 8 h of middle cerebral artery occlusion. The levels of specific FFAs (palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids) were 1.5 and 2.0 times higher in the penumbral and dense ischemic regions, respectively, than those in the non-ischemic contralateral region. Although no significant differences were found between the penumbra and dense ischemic regions in the levels of arachidonic acid, the levels of docosahexaenoic acid in both of these regions were significantly higher than those in the contralateral region (P < 0.05). These results suggest that enhanced accumulation of FFAs are regionally distributed after focal ischemia and may contribute to neuronal damage after focal cerebral ischemia in non-rodent species.