Adult male unanesthetized rats, reared on a diet enriched in both α-linolenic acid (α-LNA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), were infused intravenously for 5 min with [1-14C]α-LNA. Timed arterial samples were collected until the animals were killed at 5 min and the brain was removed after microwaving. Plasma and brain lipid concentrations and radioactivities were measured. Within plasma lipids, >99% of radioactivity was in the form of unchanged [1-14C]α-LNA. Eighty-six per cent of brain radioactivity at 5 min was present as β-oxidation products, whereas the remainder was mainly in 'stable' phospholipid or triglyceride as α-LNA or DHA. Equations derived from kinetic modeling demonstrated that unesterified unlabeled α-LNA rapidly enters brain from plasma, but that its incorporation into brain phospholipid and triglyceride, as in the form of synthesized DHA, is ≤0.2% of the amount that enters the brain. Thus, in rats fed a diet containing large amounts of both α-LNA and DHA, the α-LNA that enters brain from plasma largely undergoes β-oxidation, and is not an appreciable source of DHA within brain phospholipids. © 2005 International Society for Neurochemistry.
CITATION STYLE
DeMar, J. C., Ma, K., Chang, L., Bell, J. M., & Rapoport, S. I. (2005). α-linolenic acid does not contribute appreciably to docosahexaenoic acid within brain phospholipids of adult rats fed a diet enriched in docosahexaenoic acid. Journal of Neurochemistry, 94(4), 1063–1076. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-4159.2005.03258.x
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