Omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish may have diverse health-promoting effects, potentially protecting the immune, nervous, and cardiovascular systems.
But how the health effects of one such fatty acid -- docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) -- works remains unclear, in part because its molecular signaling pathways are only now being understood.
Toshinori Hoshi, PhD, professor of Physiology, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues showed, in two papers out this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, how fish oils help lower blood pressure via vasodilation at ion channels. In vascular smooth muscle cells, such as those that line blood vessels, ion channels that span the outer membrane of a cell to let such ions as sodium, calcium, and potassium in and out, are critical to maintaining proper vessel pressure.
Omega-3 fatty acids bind directly to a specific group of channels that allow potassium ions to move out, which affects how much voltage is required to open the channel. If omega-3 fatty acids bind to the channel, only a small amount of voltage is needed. This is good for a cell because an open potassium channel means the cell is at rest, and when smooth blood muscle cells are relaxed, blood pressure is at a good level. However, when vessels constrict, blood pressure increases.
The researchers found that DHA rapidly and reversibly activates these channels by increasing currents by up to 20 fold. DHA lowers blood pressure in anesthetized wild type mice but not in mice genetically engineered without a specific ion channel subunit.