Division of Medical Sciences, Northern Ontario School of Medicine and Department of Biology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, 955 Oliver Road, Ontario, Canada P7B5E1.
Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2009 Nov-Dec;81(5-6):309-12. doi: 10.1016/j.plefa.2009.10.004. Epub 2009 Nov 10.
Anxiety disorders are a common group of psychiatric illnesses which have significant personal, family and societal costs. Current treatments have limited efficacy in many patients highlighting a need for new therapeutic approaches to be explored. Anxiety disorders exhibit marked comorbity with mood disorders suggesting the existence of mechanistic similarities. Such a notion is supported by observations that some conventional pharmacotherapies are both effective antidepressants and anxiolytics. As such, given that omega-3 PUFA supplementation may be effective in the treatment of major depressive disorder it is reasonable to propose that they may also possess anxiolytic properties. Experimental data in support of such a hypothesis is currently lacking although reduced abundance of omega-3 PUFA have been reported in patients with anxiety, while supplementation with omega-3 PUFA appears to inhibit activation of the HPA axis and can ameliorate some of the symptoms of anxiety. Clinical investigations carried out to date have, however, involved small numbers of participants. Larger trials using a variety of omega-3 PUFA species in clinically well-defined patients with anxiety will be required to demonstrate a therapeutic role for omega-3 PUFA in these disorders. Given the excellent side effect profile of omega-3 PUFA as well as their strong theoretical rationale, such future trials appear justified.
焦虑障碍是一组常见的精神疾病，它们给个人、家庭和社会带来了巨大的负担。目前的治疗方法在许多患者中疗效有限，这凸显了需要探索新的治疗方法。焦虑障碍与情绪障碍显著共病，这表明它们存在机制上的相似性。这一观点得到了一些观察结果的支持，即一些传统的药物治疗既是有效的抗抑郁药，也是抗焦虑药。因此，鉴于 ω-3 PUFA 补充剂可能对治疗重度抑郁症有效，因此可以合理地假设它们也可能具有抗焦虑作用。目前缺乏支持这一假设的实验数据，尽管有报道称焦虑症患者体内 ω-3 PUFA 的丰度降低，而 ω-3 PUFA 的补充似乎可以抑制 HPA 轴的激活，并可以改善一些焦虑症状。然而，迄今为止进行的临床研究涉及的参与者人数较少。需要在临床上明确诊断为焦虑症的患者中使用多种 ω-3 PUFA 进行更大规模的试验，以证明 ω-3 PUFA 在这些疾病中的治疗作用。鉴于 ω-3 PUFA 的副作用良好，且具有很强的理论依据，因此未来的试验似乎是合理的。
