ABSTRACT
Objectives: To investigate fatty acid and sterol homeo-stasis in patients with CFS.
Methods: Plasma samples were collected from CFS and control subjects and analyzed for lipid composition by GC-MS metabolic profiling techniques.
Results: CFS patients had significantly different profiles of fatty acids and sterols compared with control subjects. The 1st and 2nd most important factors discriminating the CFS patients from the controls, were a decrease in elaidic acid (frims-9-octadecenoic acid) and an increase in stearic acid (octadecanoic acid), respectively. The CFS patients also had lower levels of cholesterol, which has potential impact on membrane integrity and function, steroid hormone synthesis, energy metabolism and bile production. The CFS patients could also be subdivided into subgroups based on their fatty acid and sterol composition. The results of cluster analyses and multivariate analyses revealed that several types of homeostasis exist in different types of CFS patients, whereas the control group was largely homogeneous. Viral infections can contribute to the nature of the lipid-based anomalies in CFS patients and lipid profiles from patients with prior viral infections could be differentiated from those without viral histories.
Conclusions: The assessment of fatty acids and sterols in fasting plasma samples can indicate essential fatty acid deficits, suggest appropriate types of essential fatty acid oils for formulations, indicate potential cholesterol deficit-associated anomalies, provide evidence for mitochondrial dysfunction and categorize CFS patients into biochemical subgroups. These evaluations provide a basis for devising individually tailored patient management protocols.