The metabolic syndrome of ω3-depleted rats. V. Intestinal phospholipid ω6 fatty acids

Abstract

Abstract. This study aims mainly at investigating the effects of a dietary deprivation and replenishment of ˆ3 PUFA upon the phospholipid pattern of ˆ6 PUFA in the duodenum, jejunum, caecum and colon of rats exposed for 3-7 months to an ˆ3-depleted diet and then eventually exposed for 2-4 weeks to an ˆ3-rich diet. In control rats, the relative weight content of all ˆ6 fatty acids differed in the proximal and distal intestinal segments. In the ˆ3-depleted rats the C18:2ˆ6, C20:2ˆ6 and C20:3ˆ6 content was decreased whilst that of C20:4ˆ6 and C22:4ˆ6 was increased. Significant correlations were found in the caecum or colon between the C18:2ˆ6 or C20:4ˆ6 content of intestinal phospholipids and their C22:6ˆ3 content, an increase in the latter content coinciding with an increase in C18:2ˆ6 and decrease of C20:4ˆ6. Such was also the case for C20:4ˆ6, but not C18:2ˆ6, in the duodenum and jejunum. At these proximal intestinal levels, exposure of thê 3-depleted rats to a flaxseed oil-enriched diet indeed decreased the C18:2ˆ6 phospholipid content, an effect possibly attributable to the much lower content of C18:2ˆ6 in the latter diet, as distinct from the sunflower diet offered to the ˆ3-depleted rats during the first 7 months. However, at more distal intestinal levels, and like in the liver, a deficiency in ˆ3 fatty acids apparently favours the stepwise conversion of C18:2ˆ6 to C20:4ˆ6 and C22:4ˆ6.

The Metabolic Syndrome of ω3-Depleted Rats. X: Comprehensive View

“…The primary aim of the present series of reports [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] was to investigate whether normal rats exposed from the 6 th week after birth and for the ensuing 3 to 7 months to a diet deprived of long-chain polyunsaturated 3 fatty acids would represent a suitable model to reproduce those features of the metabolic syndrome previously documented in second generation 3-depleted rats ( 3D). The present approach was indeed considered to simulate more closely the situation found in human subjects with a deficient dietary supply of 3 fatty acids.…”