A relationship between essential fatty acid and vitamin E deficiency.
To test whether vitamin E deficiency might influence the course of essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency, Long Evans rats were fed diets containing a marginal amount (1.5% of calories) of 18:2 omega 6 or 18:3 omega 3 fatty acid with complete absence of the other and with or without vitamin E. Vitamin E contents decreased continuously in serum and liver in all rats fed the E-free diets but in the brains of only the rats fed the marginal 18:3 omega 3, E-free diet. It is considered that the vitamin E is cooxidized in the liver with 22:6 omega 3, since this fatty acid is very low in livers of the rats fed the marginal 18:2 omega 6 diet but much higher in livers of the rats fed the marginal 18:3 omega 3 diet. Brain 22:6 omega 3 values are comparable for both groups. The source of 22:6 omega 3 is evidently in the mother's milk, since following weaning there is a precipitous drop in 22:6 omega 3 in serum, liver and carcass of rats on the 18:2 omega 6--containing diet. No significant signs of EFA deficiency were seen in the E-deficient rats.
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000378:metabolism; D002149:Energy Intake; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D005228:Fatty Acids, Essential / Q000172:deficiency*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008041:Linoleic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000494:pharmacology; D014811:Vitamin E Deficiency / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*
D004041:Dietary Fats; D005227:Fatty Acids; D005228:Fatty Acids, Essential; D008041:Linoleic Acids; D014810:Vitamin E; C005575:methyl linoleate