Arachidonic acid in
aquaculture feeds: current status and future opportunities
J.G.
Bell, J.R. Sargent-2003
Aquaculture, 218(1-4): 491-499
Abstract:
The importance of arachidonic acid (20:4n-6,
ARA) in fish nutrition has tended to be overlooked in preference to
eicosapentaenoic (20:5n-3, EPA) and docosahexaenoic acids (22:6n-3,
DHA), probably due to the predominance of the latter two HUFA in fish
tissues. However, despite the abundance of EPA and DHA in fish tissues, the
importance of ARA as the primary eicosanoid precursor has been recognised
for some time. Only very recently has the relative importance of ARA been
given due acknowledgement and already the potential benefits to fish
physiology and biochemistry of optimising the ARA nutrition of fish are
becoming clear. In the coming decade, the role of dietary ARA should be the
focus of considerably more research activity than has occurred to date. The
results will undoubtedly emphasise why this ubiquitous HUFA cannot be
underestimated in fish nutrition.
(Nutrition
Group, Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA,
Scotland, UK,
e-mail: g.j.bell@stir.ac.uk)