Dietary very long chain fatty acids directly influence the ratio of tetracosenoic (24:1) to tetracosanoic (24:0) acids of sphingomyelin in rat liver.

ABSTRACT

Twenty-one groups of weanling male Wistar rats were fed semipurified diets containing 5% (w/w) of different dietary fats. After 2 wk, liver sphingomyelin (SM) fatty acid composition was determined. The ratio of 241 to 240 in liver SM varied over a tenfold range in response to dietary fat type. Step-wise multiple regression analysis indicated that dietary 241, 240, and 221 were the most significant factors in predicting the 241/240 ratio of liver SM. The mathematical relation between the dietary fatty acid composition and liver SM 241/240 was y = 1.88 (241) -1.49 (240) +0.21 (221) +0.01 (181) +0.26, r2 = 0.95, P < 0.0001. These results were confirmed by a second experiment in which the rats were fed olive oil-based diets supplemented with various fatty acid ethyl esters.