Essential fatty acid deficiency and evidence for arachidonate synthesis in the cat

1. There is controversy regarding the capacity of the cat to convert 18:2ω6 to 20:4ω6 and the ability of the essential fatty acid (EFA)-deficient cat to produce 20:3ω9.2. This paper reports the isolation and identification of 20: 3ω9 from kidney phospholipids of EFA-deficient cats.3. The results suggest that the cat is capable of limited synthesis of 20:4ω6 using a Δ5- and Δ8-desaturase.