Enkephalinase activity is modified and correlates with fatty acids in frontal cortex depending on fish, olive or coconut oil used in the diet

• Published in: Endocrine regulations (Bratislava) 2019-04, Vol.53 (2), p.59-64
• Main Authors: Segarra, Ana B., Prieto, Isabel, Martinez-Canamero, Magdalena, Ruiz-Sanz, Jose-Ignacio, Ruiz-Larrea, M. Begona, De Gasparo, Marc, Banegas, Inmaculada, Zorad, Stefan, Ramirez-Sanchez, Manuel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Brain Chemistry - drug effects; Coconut Oil - pharmacology; Diet; Dietary Fats - pharmacology; enkephalinases; enkephalins; fatty acids; Fatty Acids - metabolism; Fish Oils - pharmacology; frontal cortex; Frontal Lobe - drug effects; Frontal Lobe - metabolism; Lipid Metabolism - drug effects; Male; Neprilysin - drug effects; Neprilysin - metabolism; Olive Oil - pharmacology; Rats; Rats, Wistar
• ISSN: 1336-0329; 1336-0329
• DOI: 10.2478/enr-2019-0007

Enkephalins are neuropeptides involved in functions such as pain modulation and/ or cognitive processes. It has been reported that dietary fat modifies enkephalins in the brain. Since enkephalins are hydrolyzed by enkephalinases, the study of the influence of dietary fats, differing in their degree of saturation, on brain fatty acids content and enkephalinase activity is important to understand its regulatory role on neuropeptides under different type of diets. We analyzed enkephalinase activity, assayed with alanine-β-naphthylamide as sub-strate, in frontal cortex of adult male rats fed diets supplemented with fish oil, olive oil or coconut oil, which markedly differed in the saturation of their fatty acids. Rats fed a diet enriched with coconut oil had lower enkephalinase activity than the group fed olive oil (p