ABSTRACT
The activity and mRNA level of hepatic enzymes in fatty acid oxidation and synthesis were compared in rats fed diets containing either 15% saturated fat (palm oil), safflower oil rich in linoleic acid, perilla oil rich in alpha-linolenic acid or fish oil rich in eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acids (DHA) for 15 days. The mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation rate was 50% higher in rats fed perilla and fish oils than in the other groups. Perilla and fish oils compared to palm and safflower oils approximately doubled and more than tripled, respectively, peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation rate. Compared to palm and safflower oil, both perilla and fish oils caused a 50% increase in carnitine palmitoyltransferase I activity. Dietary fats rich in n-3 fatty acids also increased the activity of other fatty acid oxidation enzymes except for 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase. The extent of the increase was greater with fish oil than with perilla oil. Interestingly, both perilla and fish oils decreased the activity of 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase measured using short- and medium-chain substrates. Compared to palm and safflower oils, perilla and fish oils increased the mRNA level of many mitochondrial and peroxisomal enzymes. Increases were generally greater with fish oil than with perilla oil. Fatty acid synthase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and pyruvate kinase activity and mRNA level were higher in rats fed palm oil than in the other groups. Among rats fed polyunsaturated fats, activities and mRNA levels of these enzymes were lower in rats fed fish oil than in the animals fed perilla and safflower oils. The values were comparable between the latter two groups. Safflower and fish oils but not perilla oil, compared to palm oil, also decreased malic enzyme activity and mRNA level. Examination of the fatty acid composition of hepatic phospholipid indicated that dietary alpha-linolenic acid is effectively desaturated and elongated to form EPA and DHA. Dietary perilla oil and fish oil therefore exert similar physiological activity in modulating hepatic fatty acid oxidation, but these dietary fats considerably differ in affecting fatty acid synthesis.
Subject(s)
3-Hydroxyacyl CoA Dehydrogenases/metabolism , Acetyl-CoA C-Acyltransferase/metabolism , Carbon-Carbon Double Bond Isomerases/metabolism , Dietary Fats/pharmacology , Enoyl-CoA Hydratase/metabolism , Fatty Acids/analysis , Fish Oils/pharmacology , Liver/drug effects , Multienzyme Complexes/metabolism , Racemases and Epimerases/metabolism , alpha-Linolenic Acid/pharmacology , 3-Hydroxyacyl CoA Dehydrogenases/genetics , Acetyl-CoA C-Acyltransferase/genetics , Animals , Blotting, Northern , Carbon-Carbon Double Bond Isomerases/genetics , Enoyl-CoA Hydratase/genetics , Fatty Acids/blood , Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects , Liver/chemistry , Liver/enzymology , Male , Mitochondrial Trifunctional Protein , Multienzyme Complexes/genetics , Phospholipids/chemistry , Plant Oils/pharmacology , RNA, Messenger/analysis , Racemases and Epimerases/genetics , Rats , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Triglycerides/chemistryABSTRACT
The effects of dietary soybean phospholipid, its hydrogenation product and safflower phospholipid on gene expression and the activity of hepatic enzymes in fatty acid biosynthesis were examined in fasted-refed rats. Phospholipid composition of soybean phospholipid and its hydrogenation product were the same, but the hydrogenation product contained negligible amounts of unsaturated fatty acids. Among phospholipid classes, lysophosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylinositol proportions were slightly higher in safflower phospholipid than in soybean phospholipid or its hydrogenation product. Rats were fasted for 2 d and refed a fat-free diet or a diet containing 4% fatty acids either as soybean oil or various phospholipid preparations for 3 d. Compared to the fat-free diet, the soybean oil diet only slightly decreased specific, but not total hepatic fatty acid synthetase and malic enzyme activity, and it was totally ineffective in modulating glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase and pyruvate kinase activity under our experimental conditions. The diets containing phospholipids, however, markedly decreased the activity of these enzymes. The extent of reduction was somewhat attenuated with hydrogenated soybean phospholipid as compared with soybean and safflower phospholipids. Dot and Northern blot hybridization using specific cDNA probes showed that, compared to a fat-free diet, diets containing phospholipids profoundly decreased the hepatic mRNA levels of enzymes in fatty acid synthesis. Soybean oil, however, only marginally affected these parameters. Hepatic mRNA levels for enzymes correlated well with enzyme activity. Dietary phospholipids therefore appear to have decreased enzyme activity in fatty acid synthesis primarily by suppressing the mRNA levels of these enzymes. Compared to soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean phospholipid is still effective in decreasing the activity and mRNA level of enzymes in fatty acid synthesis. Therefore, it is difficult to ascribe the potent physiological activity of phospholipid in reducing fatty acid synthesis entirely to polyunsaturated fatty acid moiety.
