The non-eicosanoid functions of the essential fatty acids.

Coincident with the discovery of the essential fatty acids (EFA), the symptoms of their deficiency were thoroughly delineated. The mechanisms by which these symptoms were produced, however, and the intimate functions of these substances remained obscure for many years. Smedley-MacLean and Hume (1) considered that the EFA are involved in the formation of new cells, and a careful consideration of the deficiency symptoms commonly described in EFA deficiency reveals that most of them are related in some way to a failure of membrane synthesis or maintenance.