Lipids in the origin of intracellular detail and speciation in the Cambrian epoch and the significance of the last double bond of docosahexaenoic acid in cell signaling

Authors: CRAWFORD, MICHAEL - Imperial College; Schmidt, Walter; Broadhurst, C; THABET, MANAHEL - Imperial College; WANG, YQUN - Imperial College

Submitted to: Prostaglandins Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/15/2020
Publication Date: 2/12/2021
Citation: Crawford, M.A., Schmidt, W.F., Broadhurst, C.L., Thabet, M., Wang, Y. 2021. Lipids in the origin of intracellular detail and speciation in the Cambrian epoch and the significance of the last double bond of docosahexaenoic acid in cell signaling. Prostaglandins Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plefa.2020.102230.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plefa.2020.102230

Interpretive Summary: Excluding water, the brains of all mammals are 60% fats. One of the greatest unanswered questions in all biological science is why the omega polyunsaturated fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) is absolutely necessary for constructing fast signal processing tissues in the brain and retina. Over 600 million years of evolution DHA has been exclusively utilized for everything from the simple eye spot of plankton to the human brain, yet it is abundant only in the cold water marine food chain. Two fatty acids of the same chain length with just one less double bond—the docosapentaenoic acids (DPA; 22:5n-3 and 22:5n-6)—are present in the marine and terrestrial food chains yet cannot substitute for DHA. When research animals are deprived of DHA but given DPA, they have permanent developmental disorders, brain and vision abnormalities, dementia, and memory loss. Classical physics and biochemistry provide no explanation for DHA’s essentiality but quantum mechanics can. DHA is theoretically capable of electron tunneling; the wave functions generated are the mechanism whereby pathways for memory and learning are created and strengthened. Electron wave-particle duality also provides an explanation for our precise vision, which can detect light levels varying 10,000-fold, and differentiate between thousands of color shades. This benefits ARS and the public at large because there is an urgent need for education regarding the importance and essentiality of seafoods in the diet because they are our best source of DHA. The ramifications for DHA deficiency are severe, including widespread depressive disorders, learning disabilities and early-onset dementia.

Technical Abstract: One of the great unanswered biological questions is the absolute necessity of the polyunsaturated lipid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) in retinal and neural tissues. Everything from the simple eye spot of dinoflagellates to cephalopods to every class of vertebrates uses DHA, yet it is abundant only in cold water marine food chains. Docosapentaenoic acids (DPAs; 22:5n-3 and 22:5n-6) are fairly abundant in food chains yet cannot substitute for DHA. DHA has six methylene double bonds, providing controlled electron flow at precise energy levels; this is essential for visual acuity and truthful execution of the neural pathways which make up our recollections, information processing and consciousness. The last double bond is critical for the evolution and function of the photoreceptor and neuronal and synaptic signalling systems. It completes a quantum mechanical device for the regulation of current flow with absolute signal precision based on electron tunneling (ET). DHA’s methylene interruption distance is < 6Å, making ET transfer between the p-orbitals feasible throughout the molecule. The possibility fails if one double bond is removed and replaced by a saturated bond as in the DPAs. The molecular biophysical foundation of neural signalling can also include the discrete pattern of paired spin states that arise in the DHA double bond and methylene regions. The complexity depends upon the number of 13C and 1H molecular sites in which spin states are coupled. Electron wave harmonics with entanglement and cohesion provide a mechanism for learning and memory, and power cognition and complex human brain functions.