Boston University Clinical Epidemiology Research and Training Unit, Boston, MA, United States.
Tufts Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center, Boston, MA, United States.
Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2012 May;20(5):382-387. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2012.01.021. Epub 2012 Feb 4.
In osteoarthritis (OA) the synovium is often inflamed and inflammatory cytokines contribute to cartilage damage. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) have anti-inflammatory effects whereas omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-6 PUFAs) have, on balance, proinflammatory effects. The goal of our study was to assess the association of fasting plasma phospholipid n-6 and n-3 PUFAs with synovitis as measured by synovial thickening on contrast enhanced (CE) knee MRI and cartilage damage among subjects in the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study (MOST). MOST is a cohort study of individuals who have or are at high risk of knee OA. An unselected subset of participants who volunteered obtained CE 1.5T MRI of one knee. Synovitis was scored in six compartments and a summary score was created. This subset also had fasting plasma, analyzed by gas chromatography for phospholipid fatty acid content, and non-CE MRI, read for cartilage morphology according to the Whole-Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score (WORMS) method. The association between synovitis and cartilage morphology and plasma PUFAs was assessed using logistic regression after controlling for the effects of age, sex, and BMI. 472 out of 535 subjects with CE MRI had complete data on synovitis, cartilage morphology and plasma phospholipids. Mean age was 60 years, mean BMI 30, and 50% were women. We found an inverse relation between total n-3 PUFAs and the specific n-3, docosahexaenoic acid with patellofemoral cartilage loss, but not tibiofemoral cartilage loss or synovitis. A positive association was observed between the n-6 PUFA, arachidonic acid, and synovitis. In conclusion, systemic levels of n-3 and n-6 PUFAs which are influenced by diet, may be related to selected structural findings in knees with or at risk of OA. Future studies manipulating the systemic levels of these fatty acids may be warranted to determine the effects on structural damage in knee OA.
在骨关节炎（OA）中，滑膜通常会发炎，炎症细胞因子会导致软骨损伤。ω-3 多不饱和脂肪酸（n-3 PUFA）具有抗炎作用，而 ω-6 多不饱和脂肪酸（n-6 PUFA）则具有总体上的促炎作用。我们的研究目的是评估空腹血浆磷脂 n-6 和 n-3 PUFA 与通过对比增强（CE）膝关节 MRI 测量的滑膜炎以及在多中心骨关节炎研究（MOST）中受试者的软骨损伤之间的关联。MOST 是一项针对患有或有膝关节 OA 高风险的个体的队列研究。一组未选择的志愿者接受了一侧膝关节的 1.5T CE MRI 检查。滑膜炎在六个节段进行评分，并创建了一个综合评分。该亚组还进行了空腹血浆检测，通过气相色谱法分析磷脂脂肪酸含量，并进行了非 CE MRI 检测，根据全器官磁共振成像评分（WORMS）方法评估软骨形态。在控制年龄、性别和 BMI 的影响后，使用逻辑回归评估滑膜炎和软骨形态与血浆 PUFA 之间的关联。在具有 CE MRI 的 535 名受试者中，有 472 名受试者具有完整的滑膜炎、软骨形态和血浆磷脂数据。平均年龄为 60 岁，平均 BMI 为 30，其中 50%为女性。我们发现总 n-3 PUFA 与特定的 n-3、二十二碳六烯酸与髌股关节软骨丢失呈负相关，但与胫股关节软骨丢失或滑膜炎无关。n-6 PUFA、花生四烯酸与滑膜炎呈正相关。总之，饮食影响的系统 n-3 和 n-6 PUFA 水平可能与 OA 或有 OA 风险的膝关节的某些结构发现有关。未来操纵这些脂肪酸系统水平的研究可能有助于确定它们对膝关节 OA 结构损伤的影响。
