title: Daily pattern of some fatty acids in the athletic horse.
abstract: In the sport field, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) are important for the physical performance during the aerobic exercise of short intensity and long duration. In man, rat, goat and in the sedentary horse studies on the chronometabolism showed the presence of a circadian rhythm of the plasmatic concentration of NEFA while data for the athletic horse are lacking. To define a chronogram helpful for a specific planning and the differentiation of the training programmme in the athletic horse, the circadian pattern of some fatty acids (NEFA, palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids) was studied in five Sella Italiana horses. These horses trained following a daily model of activity consisting of walk, trot, gallop and jump of obstacles of different heights. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein every 4 h, starting at 08:00 hours, for 2 days to assess the concentrations of total NEFA (by spectrophotometry), palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids (by gas chromatography). anova for repeated measures showed a statistical significant effect of the time of the day in NEFA, oleic and linolenic acids. The application of the periodic model showed the periodic pattern of NEFA, oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids. Acrophases were in the afternoon for all parameters. The results obtained showed a different trend of the circadian pattern of the studied parameters in the athletic horse than in the sedentary one because the physical activity and the post-prandial metabolism acted as zeitgebers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphology, Biochemistry, Physiology and Animal Production, Veterinary Chronophysiology Laboratory, Section of Veterinary Physiology, University of Messina, Messina 98168, Italy. giuseppe.piccione@unime.it
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piccione
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Assenza
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borruso
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fazio
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caola
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000821:Animal Feed; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000662:veterinary; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000097:blood*; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006736:Horses / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology*; D019301:Oleic Acid / Q000097:blood; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000662:veterinary; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid; D019301:Oleic Acid