"Synthesizing VLC-PUFAs opens up a whole new area of study, and these first results are very promising," said Bernstein, the paper’s corresponding author. "Our results raise interesting questions about how orally administered VLC-PUFAs improve vision, how they are carried in the bloodstream, and how they are selectively targeted to the retina. The VLC-PUFA formulation, dosage, and timing of the intervention first need to be optimized, and then the underlying mechanisms will need to be defined."
Organic Chemistry Professor Jon D. Rainier, PhD, a co-author on the research, said the group is confident it can synthesize additional VLC-PUFA variants.
"There are a number of VLC-PUFA variants that are present in the human eye," said Rainier, second author on the research.
"So far we have only made one member of this family, but we are confident that our new synthetic method will enable us to both synthesize and study the other variants and by doing that get a much better idea of what it is that each of the individual VLC-PUFAs do."
Bernstein’s laboratory focuses on the biochemistry and biophysics of nutritional interventions against inherited and acquired ocular disorders. Bernstein, Moran’s vice-chair for clinical and basic science research and the Val A. and Edith D. Green Presidential Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, helped develop the protective AREDS2 supplement formulation for patients with age-related macular degeneration.
Additional authors on the PNAS study, Retinal Bioavailability and Functional Effects of a Synthetic Very-Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid in Mice, were: Aruna Gorusupudi, Rameshu Rallabandi, Binxing Li, Ranganathan Arunkumar, J. David Blount, Gergory T. Rognon, Fu-Yen Chang, Alexander Wade, Steven Lucas, and John C. Conboy.
The research was supported by a Knights Templar Career Starter Grant, a University of Utah Center on Aging Seed Grant, a Foundation Fighting Blindness Grant, a Carl Marshall Reeves and Mildred Almen Reeves Foundation Grant, and departmental core grants from Research to Prevent Blindness and the National Institutes of Health.