Amarin Corp Plc (AMRN)

[jessellivermore]

raf....

Why not EPA rather than EPA/AA ratio....

The reason is systemic inflammatory levels are principally determined by cell membrane receptors (COX and LOX) and to a degree by receptors on the nuclear membrane (PPAR)...

Both EPA and AA possess the chemical structure to bind to these receptors (as do some other chemicals like aspirin, NSAIDs, and steroids)...Each receptor can only bind with with one of the chemicals...So it is a first come first served situation...AA tends to be very pro inflammatory...EPA is slight pro inflammatory...The process is called "competitive inhibition" because the first chemical to reach the receptor prevents the other chemical from binding to the receptor...So this is why the EPA/AA ratio is more important because the higher the number of EPA molecules vs AA molecules the more receptors EPA controls and this tends to moderate systemic inflammation...If the the number of AA particles are higher than the EPA particles then more receptor sites will be controlled by AA and the systemic inflammation will be higher...

":>) JL