title: Changes in fatty acid profiles of red blood cell membranes mediated by dietary nucleotides in weanling rats.
abstract: Dietary nucleotides have been described to play multiple physiological roles. We examined the effect of feeding, for 4 weeks, nucleotide-supplemented diets (N-50 and N-250) on red blood cell (RBC) membrane fatty acid composition in weanling rats. Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) of the n-6 series, especially arachidonic acid, increased in total RBC phospholipids in N-50 and N-250 groups. Concentrations of LC-PUFA of the n-3 series were preserved or slightly decreased. Saturates and monoenates also decreased. Phosphatidylethanolamine and sphingomyelin followed the variations observed for total phospholipids. Phosphatidylcholine showed a different response; saturated fatty acids increased while n-6 LC-PUFA decreased. Dietary nucleotides seem to affect the conversion of essential fatty acids to their long-chain derivatives in weanling rats in a similar way to that occurring in newborn infants during early life. These results show that the rat may be a valid model with which to study the biochemical mechanisms by which dietary nucleotides affect fatty acid desaturation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boza
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Suárez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gil
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry*; D004032:Diet; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000032:analysis; D010714:Phosphatidylethanolamines / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D013109:Sphingomyelins / Q000032:analysis; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D009711:Nucleotides; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D010714:Phosphatidylethanolamines; D013109:Sphingomyelins