Fatty acid composition of phospholipids of plasma and of mononuclear blood cells in children with allergic asthma and the influence of glucocorticoids.

Fatty acid (FA) composition of plasma phospholipids and phospholipids extracted from peripheral mononuclear white blood cells (MNC) was investigated in 11 allergic asthmatic children (age 8.9 +/- 4.6 years), in 10 age-matched non-allergic healthy controls and in 14 allergic and non-allergic children with an acute attack of asthma, who had received prednisolone medication for 2-4 days. In allergic asthmatics eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) was significantly elevated in both plasma and MNC. The relative amount of 20:5n-3 in MNC as well as in plasma correlated positively with increasing levels of total serum IgE (P less than 0.02). The pattern of the other FAs in plasma and of MNC phospholipids did not differ between allergic asthmatic and non-allergic control children. In children with an acute attack of asthma, who had been treated with glucocorticoids (2 mg prednisolone/kg body weight for 2-4 days), distinct changes of relative FA composition of phospholipids were restricted to plasma, where some very long chain FA (22:4n-6, 22:5n-6) were elevated. No significant changes in FA from MNC phospholipids could be observed after glucocorticoid treatment. These findings may indicate a possible role of 20:5n-3, the precursor of "group 3" eicosanoids, in allergic asthmatic children.