Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and their Related Enzymes in Postmortem Brain Tissues of Patients with Psychiatric Disorders

The first study on fatty acid composition of the postmortem brains of patients with psychiatric disorders was performed by Horrobin et al. in 1991, who found abnormalities in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in patients with schizophrenia. About a decade later, research in this field was re-started by Yao et al., followed by a number of other research groups. The results seem to show that the PUFA changes in psychiatric disorders may be specific to certain brain regions, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we review these case-control studies of postmortem brain composition.