Effects of an n-3-deficient diet on brain, retina, and liver fatty acyl composition in artificially reared rats.
Rat pups born to dams fed a diet with 3.1% of total fatty acids as alpha-linolenic acid (LNA) were fed, using an artificial rearing system, either an n-3-deficient (n-3-Def) or an n-3-adequate (n-3-Adq) diet. Both diets contained 17.1% linoleic acid, but the n-3-Adq diet also contained 3.1% LNA. The percentage of brain docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) continuously decreased (71%) with time over the 29 days of the experiment, with concomitant increases in docosapentaenoic acid (DPAn-6). In the retina, the percentage of DHA rose in the n-3-Adq group, with an apparent increased rate around the time of eye opening. However, there was a flat curve for the percentage of DHA in the n-3-Def group and a rising DPAn-6 with time. Liver DHA was highest at the time of birth in the n-3-Adq group but fell off somewhat over the course of 29 days. This decrease was more pronounced in the n-3-Def group, and the DPAn-6 rose considerably during the second half of the experiment. This method presents a first-generation model for n-3 deficiency that is more similar to the case of human nutrition than is the commonly employed two-generation model.
Moriguchi
Toru
T
Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Lim
Sun-Young
SY
Greiner
Rebecca
R
Lefkowitz
William
W
Loewke
James
J
Hoshiba
Junji
J
Salem
Norman
N
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D016718:Arachidonic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000378:metabolism*; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000378:metabolism; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D012160:Retina / Q000378:metabolism*; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*
D004041:Dietary Fats; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids; D016718:Arachidonic Acid; C026219:docosapentaenoic acid