Imperial College London
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Michael A Crawford PhD, FRSB, FRCPath

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction

Visiting Professor
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)7725 250 541michael.crawford Website CV

 
 
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Location

 

H 3.34Chelsea and Westminster HospitalChelsea and Westminster Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Crawford:2012:10.1177/0260106012437550,
author = {Crawford, MA and Broadhurst, CL},
doi = {10.1177/0260106012437550},
journal = {Nutr Health},
pages = {17--39},
title = {The role of docosahexaenoic and the marine food web as determinants of evolution and hominid brain development: the challenge for human sustainability.},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0260106012437550},
volume = {21},
year = {2012}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Life originated on this planet about 3 billion years ago. For the first 2.5 billion years of life there was ample opportunity for DNA modification. Yet there is no evidence of significant change in life forms during that time. It was not until about 600 million years ago, when the oxygen tension rose to a point where air-breathing life forms became thermodynamically possible, that a major change can be abruptly seen in the fossil record. The sudden appearance of the 32 phyla in the Cambrian fossil record was also associated with the appearance of intracellular detail not seen in previous life forms. That detail was provided by cell membranes made with lipids (membrane fats) as structural essentials. Lipids thus played a major, as yet unrecognised, role as determinants in evolution. The compartmentalisation of intracellular, specialist functions as in the nucleus, mitochondria, reticulo-endothelial system and plasma membrane led to cellular specialisation and then speciation. Thus, not only oxygen but also the marine lipids were drivers in the Cambrian explosion. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (all-cis-docosa-4,7,10,13,16,19-hexaenoic acid, C22:6ω3 or C22:6, n-3, DHA) is a major feature of marine lipids. It requires six oxygen atoms to insert its six double bonds, so it would not have been abundant before oxidative metabolism became plentiful. DHA provided the membrane backbone for the emergence of new photoreceptors that converted photons into electricity, laying the foundation for the evolution of other signalling systems, the nervous system and the brain. Hence, the ω3 DHA from the marine food web must have played a critical role in human evolution. There is also clear evidence from molecular biology that DHA is a determinant of neuronal migration, neurogenesis and the expression of several genes involved in brain growth and function. That same process was essential to the ultimate cerebral expansion in human evolution. There is now incontrovertible suppor
AU  - Crawford,MA
AU  - Broadhurst,CL
DO  - 10.1177/0260106012437550
EP  - 39
PY  - 2012///
SN  - 0260-1060
SP  - 17
TI  - The role of docosahexaenoic and the marine food web as determinants of evolution and hominid brain development: the challenge for human sustainability.
T2  - Nutr Health
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0260106012437550
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22544773
VL  - 21
ER  -
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