Acta Vet. Brno 2015, 84: 197-207
The effect of dietary fatty acid composition on the hepatic fatty acid content and plasma lipid profile in rats
The objective of the present study was to evaluate in a model organism the effect of different dietary lipids on plasma concentration of total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triacylglycerols (TAG). One hundred adult male rats (Wistar Albino) were divided into 10 groups with 10 animals each and fed for 7 weeks either basic feed mixture (control diet, C) or basic feed mixture with 5% of palm oil (P), safflower oil (SF), salmon oil (S), fish oil (F), Schizochytrium microalga oil (A), and 20% of beef tallow (T; four groups), respectively. The T-groups were fed for another 7 weeks T-, SF-, F- and A-diet, respectively. At the end of both the first and the second 7-week fattening period, plasma lipid concentration and hepatic fatty acid content was determined. Both A and F diets fed for 7 weeks decreased (P < 0.05) plasma TC (0.98 mmol∙l-1) compared to control (1.19 mmol∙l-1). The highest (P < 0.05) plasma TC was established in rats fed for 7 weeks the SF-diet following the previous 7-week T-treatment (2.15 mmol∙l-1). A-diet had the most positive (decreasing) effect on TAG concentrations (0.68–0.86 mmol∙l-1 compared to 1.22 and 2.88 mmol∙l-1 found in the C and T diets, respectively; P < 0.05). Both plasma TC and TAG were in a negative relationship (P < 0.01) with the hepatic eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) contents, respectively. It was concluded that dietary Schizochytrium microalga oil (with high DHA content) may have the potential for decreasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Keywords
Cholesterol, triacylglycerols, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, fish oil, Schizochytrium microalga.
Funding
The experiment was supported by the Internal Grant Agency of the Mendel University in Brno (project No. TP3/2014) and by the project SIX CZ 1.05/2.1.00/03.0072.
