ACSL6 is critical for maintaining brain DHA levels

The importance of DHA in the brain has led to many nutritional studies examining the role of diet in regulating its levels; however, mechanistic details regarding its uptake into the brain have been relatively scarce. While it is clear that plasma unesterified DHA can enter the brain, the molecular mechanisms regulating this process are not clear. In PNAS, Fernandez et al find that a member of the long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase (ACSL) family, ACSL6, is essential for enriching the brain with DHA.