Long term 'marine diet' in Eskimos is not associated with altered urinary excretion of total tetranor prostaglandin metabolites.

The total urinary excretion of tetranor prostaglandin metabolites, measured as tetranorprostanedioic acid (TPD), was quantified in traditionally living Greenland Eskimos (E) and compared with that in Caucasian Danes (D). TPD excretion (microgram/24h) was not significantly different between both groups, neither for males (331 +/- 62.4 (E) vs. 331 +/- 25.7 (D), mean +/- SEM, n = 9 and 10) nor for females (190 +/- 31.7 (E) vs. 264 +/- 27.4 (D), n = 11 and 10, P2 greater than 0.05). Since urinary prostaglandin metabolites are thought to reflect the total prostaglandin turnover in vivo, these results suggest that a long-term intake of relatively large amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids of the (n-3) family does not alter total prostaglandin turnover in vivo. This is in contrast to stimulated prostanoid formation in vitro, and thus suggests a different regulatory role of dietary and tissue fatty acids for 'stimulated' and 'basal' prostaglandin production.