Fatty acid metabolism is altered in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis independent of obesity  Paula Walle, Markus Takkunen, Ville Männistö, Maija Vaittinen, Maria Lankinen, Vesa Kärjä, Pirjo Käkelä, Jyrki Ågren, Mika Tiainen, Ursula Schwab, Johanna Kuusisto, Markku Laakso, Jussi Pihlajamäki  Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental  Volume 65, Issue 5, Pages 655-666 (May 2016) DOI: 10.1016/j.metabol.2016.01.011 Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

Fig. 1 Estimated enzyme activities in serum cholesteryl esters according to study groups in the KOBS and METSIM studies. Panels (A) and (C) show mean (±SD) enzyme activities in individuals with normal liver, steatosis and steatohepatitis in obese individuals in the KOBS study (n=92). Panels (B) and (D) show estimated enzyme activities in high ALT group (plasma ALT >24U/l) and in low ALT group (serum ALT ≤24U/l) in the METSIM population study (n=769). Activity of delta-6 desaturase was estimated in CE by a ratio of 18:3 n-6/18:2 n-6 and activity of delta-5 desaturase by a ratio of 20:4 n-6/20:3 n-6. * p<0.002 compared to individuals with normal liver in t test. Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental 2016 65, 655-666DOI: (10.1016/j.metabol.2016.01.011) Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

Fig. 2 Hepatic mRNA expression of desaturase genes and correlations with estimated desaturase activities in serum triglycerides. Bar charts show mean levels (±SD) of mRNA expression in the liver according to study groups based on liver histology: panel (A) for FADS2 and panel (B) for FADS1. Scatter plots show correlations between hepatic mRNA expression and estimated enzyme activity in serum triglycerides for FADS2 and delta-6 desaturase in panel (C) and for FADS1 and delta-5 desaturase in panel (D). Spearman correlation coefficients are shown in the panels C and D, respectively. Activity of delta-6 desaturase was estimated by a ratio of 18:3 n-6/18:2 n-6 and activity of delta-5 desaturase by a ratio of 20:4 n-6/20:3 n-6 *p<0.05 compared to individuals with normal liver in independent samples t test. Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental 2016 65, 655-666DOI: (10.1016/j.metabol.2016.01.011) Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

Fig. 3 Scatter plots demonstrating the correlation between enzyme activities based on liver and serum fatty acid ratios for delta-6 desaturase in cholesteryl esters (A) and triglycerides (C) and for delta-5 desaturase in cholesteryl esters (B) and triglycerides (D). Spearman correlation coefficients are shown in the panels A-D, respectively. Activity of delta-6 desaturase was estimated by a ratio of 18:3 n-6/18:2 n-6 and activity of delta-5 desaturase by a ratio of 20:4 n-6/20:3 n-6. Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental 2016 65, 655-666DOI: (10.1016/j.metabol.2016.01.011) Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions