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Introduction^1,2,

J. Bruce German^*,3, Cora J. Dillard^* and Jay Whelan

^* Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 Department of Nutrition, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996

The intent of this symposium is to assemble current knowledge of the role of arachidonic acid (AA) in the diet to provide a conceptual and mechanistic framework for future research. The principal focus is on the varied biological effects of dietary AA, including opposing effects of n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA); regulation of n-6 PUFA metabolism, eicosanoid synthesis and gene expression; the importance of AA in infant nutrition and the contemporary Western diet in general; and the effects of AA on tumor promotion. Through its myriad actions and remarkably ubiquitous presence in cells, AA can be argued to affect every cell of the body. Although the varied molecular events associated with the metabolism of AA have been subjects of intense investigation, the ability of AA in the diet to alter AA levels in cellular membranes is poorly described and is thus the focus of this symposium.

KEY WORDS: • dietary arachidonic acid • arachidonic acid metabolism • eicosanoids

¹ Presented as part of the symposium "Biological Effects of Dietary Arachidonic Acid" given at the Experimental Biology '95 meeting, Atlanta, GA, on April 11, 1995. This symposium was sponsored by the American Institute of Nutrition and was supported by a grant from the Cayman Chemical Company. Guest editors for the symposium were Jay Whelan, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, and J. Bruce German, University of California, Davis, CA.

² Supported in part by University of California, Davis Clinical Nutrition Research Unit.

³ To whom correspondence should be addressed.