Effect of Chain Length and Saturation of the Fatty Acids in Dietary Triglycerides on Lipid Metabolism in Wistar Rats

Abstract

<div>Dietary fatty acids are associated with lipid health. We investigated the effect of the chain length </div><div>and the degree of saturation of fatty acids in dietary triglycerides on serum lipid profiles and </div><div>hepatic lipid metabolism in Wistar rats. Fat component of the basal diet (soybean oil) was </div><div>replaced with fats with fatty acids of different chain lengths and saturation and the serum lipids </div><div>were monitored for 150 days. Principal component (PC) analysis of serum lipid components </div><div>were related to chain length and saturation using second order polynomial regression analysis. </div><div>The combined effect of chain length and saturation on PC 1 scores were evaluated by multiple </div><div>regression analysis. Variation of lipid parameters cannot be well-explained by chain length or </div><div>saturation alone. Consistent with the formation of large amounts of lipid droplets in the liver, </div><div>expression of sterol regulatory element binding protein -2 (SREBP2) and peroxisome </div><div>proliferator-activated receptors (PPARα) involved in hepatic lipid metabolism showed </div><div>significant (P<0.05) downregulation in margarine diet group and SREBP2 in dairy butter diet </div><div>group compared to the control group. Average chain length of fatty acids in triglycerides has a </div><div>higher influence on the quality of serum lipid parameters than the average degree of saturation of </div><div>fatty acids.</div>