title: Essential fatty acid deficiency and postresection mucosal adaptation in the rat.
abstract: The effect of short-term (biochemical) and long-term (clinical) essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency on mucosal adaptation was studied in a surgical model of short bowel syndrome. Rats fed an EFA-deficient diet for 4 wk had biochemical evidence of EFA deficiency (hepatic and red blood cell triene to tetraene ratios greater than 0.4). Resected animals (70% proximal jejunoileal resection) receiving an EFA-deficient diet had a significantly impaired intestinal mucosal hyperplasia response in all remaining small bowel segments compared with resected controls. The effect of refeeding a control diet to clinically EFA-deficient resected rats was also evaluated. Short-term refeeding (2 wk) of a control diet resulted in a significant return toward normal tissue triene to tetraene ratios. Concomitantly, refed animals had significantly greater mucosal adaptation in the remaining duodenal/jejunal segment compared with resected animals maintained on an EFA-deficient diet postoperatively. These experiments underscore the dynamic nature of tissue EFA status and the importance of fatty acids in the normal compensatory mechanisms of mucosal adaptation after resection.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Grandjean
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Erdman
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vanderhoof
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000032:analysis; D005228:Fatty Acids, Essential / Q000032:analysis / Q000172:deficiency*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000601:surgery; D008099:Liver / Q000032:analysis / Q000166:cytology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D005228:Fatty Acids, Essential