Polyunsaturated n-3 and n-6 fatty acids at a low level in the diet alter mitochondrial outer membrane parameters in Wistar rat liver

• Published in: The Journal of nutritional biochemistry 1995-11, Vol.6 (11), p.626-634
• Main Authors: Clouet, Pierre, Niot, Isabelle, Gresti, Joseph, Demarquoy, Jean, Boichot, Jacqueline, Durand, Georges, Bézard, Jean
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ACEITES DE PESCADO; ACIDE ARACHIDONIQUE; ACIDE GRAS POLYINSATURE; ACIDO ARAQUIDONICO; ACIDOS GRASOS POLIINSATURADOS; ACILTRANSFERASA; ACTIVIDAD ENZIMATICA; ACTIVITE ENZYMATIQUE; ACYLTRANSFERASE; AMINE OXYDASE; AMINO OXIDASA; Biological and medical sciences; CARNITINA; CARNITINE; carnitine acyltransferase I; CEFALINAS; CEPHALINE; CHOLESTEROL; COLESTEROL; COMPLEMENT ALIMENTAIRE; DIETA; ESTERASAS; ESTERASE; EXPERIMENTACION; EXPERIMENTATION; Feeding. Feeding behavior; FOIE; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; GLUTAMATE DESHYDROGENASE; GLUTAMATO DEHIDROGENASA; HIGADO; HUILE DE POISSON; INGESTION DE NUTRIENTES; INGESTION DE SUBSTANCES NUTRITIVES; INHIBIDORES DE ENZIMAS; INHIBITEUR D'ENZYME; LECITHINE; LECITINAS; Life Sciences; LIPIDE; LIPIDOS; MEMBRANA; MEMBRANE; mitochondrial outer membranes; MITOCHONDRIE; MITOCONDRIA; ORGANITE CELLULAIRE; ORGANULOS CITOPLASMICOS; PESO; POIDS; polyunsaturated fatty acids; RAT; RATA; REGIME ALIMENTAIRE; SUPLEMENTOS; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Wistar rats
• ISSN: 0955-2863; 1873-4847
• DOI: 10.1016/0955-2863(95)00123-H

This study was designed to examine whether n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) at a very low level in the diet (about 0.2%) may alter the fatty acid composition of mitochondrial outer membranes and the characteristics of carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPTI) activity in the liver of normal Wistar rats. The animals were fed diets containing different oil mixtures (5% wt/wt) with the same ratio of n-6 n-3 fatty acids supplied either as fish oil or arachidonic acid concentrate. The cholesterol content of the mitochondrial outer membranes from liver was similar for all diets, while the percentage of 22:6n-3 and 20:4n-6 in phospholipids was enhanced with the diets containing fish oil and arachidonic acid, respectively. With the fish oil diet, CPT I was found to be less sensitive to malonyl-CoA inhibition. When animals were fed the diet containing arachidonic acid, the enzyme activity was lowered, but its sensitivity to malonyl-CoA was unaffected. In this group, the liver mitochondrial content appeared to be reduced both when expressed per unit of weight and on a whole organ basis. The results show that a low level of dietary PUFAs supplied to normal Wistar rats is sufficient to influence the content of n-3 and n-6 PUFAs in mitochondrial outer membranes and to alter some of the characteristics of CPT I. However, the data suggest that factors other than the PUFA content of membrane phospholipids must be involved in mediating the changes in CPT I kinetic characteristics observed in this study.