Kinnun, Jacob J.Williams, Justin A.Stillwell, William H.Bittman, RobertShaikh, Saame RazaWassall, Stephen R.2015-09-042015-09-042013-04-05Kinnun, Jacob J., Justin A. Williams, William H. Stillwell, Robert Bittman, Saame Raza Shaikh, and Stephen R. Wassall. (2013, April 5). DHA and EPA Interaction with Raft Domains Observed With Solid-State 2H NMR Spectroscopy. Poster session presented at IUPUI Research Day 2013, Indianapolis, Indiana.https://hdl.handle.net/1805/6777poster abstractResearch continues to examine the health benefits of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) found in fish oils. The major bioactive components are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5), with 20 carbons and 5 double bonds, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6), with 22 carbons and 6 double bonds. However, their molecular modes of action remain unclear. A suggested hypothesis is that these fatty acids are incorporated into membrane phospholipids and modify the structure and organization of lipid rafts, thus affecting cell signaling. We used solid-state 2H NMR spectroscopy to compare molecular organization in mixtures of 1-palmitoyl-2-eicosapentaenoylphosphatidylcholine (PEPC) and 1-palmitoyl-2-docosahexaenoylphosphatidylcholine (PDPC) with the raft-stabilizing molecules sphingomyelin (SM) and cholesterol. Our spectra for PEPC-d31 and PDPC-d31, analogs of PEPC and PDPC with a perdeuterated palmitoyl sn-1 chain, showed that DHA has a greater tendency than EPA to incorporate into raft-like domains enriched in SM and cholesterol. By using PSM-d31, an analog of SM with a perdeuterated N-palmitoyl chain, we now directly observe one of the raft-forming molecules and analyze the molecular order within the raft. These results will add to the growing information on how EPA and DHA differentially modify lipid domain organization in bilayers.en-USomega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA)fish oilseicosapentaenoic aciddocosahexaenoic acidmembrane phospholipidslipid raftscell signalingPresentation