Plasma omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid status and monounsaturated fatty acids are altered by chronic social stress and predict endocrine responses to acute stress in titi monkeys

Disturbances in fatty acid (FA) metabolism may link chronic psychological stress, endocrine responsiveness, and psychopathology. Therefore, lipid metabolome-wide responses and their relationships with endocrine (cortisol, insulin, and adiponectin) responsiveness to acute stress (AS) were assessed in a primate model of chronic social stress (CS). Compared to controls (not exposed to CS), CS increased (P≤0.05) circulating triacylglycerol (TG) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) n-6/n-3 and reduced (P≤0.05) cholesterol ester (CE) 16:1n7 and phosphatidylcholine (PC) 18:1n7, suggesting lower omega-3 FA status and stearoyl-CoA desaturase activity, respectively. Cortisol responses to AS positively correlated with TG n-6/n-3 (r=0.93; P=0.007), but only in CS monkeys. The adiponectin response to AS inversely correlated with CE n-6/n3 (r=−0.89; P=0.045) and positively with TG 16:1n7 (r=0.98; P=0.004), only in CS monkeys. Our results are consistent with previously reported FA profiles in stress-related psychopathology and suggest that compositional changes of specific lipid FAs may form new functional markers of chronic psychological stress.