Research

Effects of alpha-linolenic acid vs. docosahexaenoic acid supply on the distribution of fatty acids among the rat cardiac subcellular membranes after a short- or long-term dietary exposure

Amandine Brochot^1,2 , Marine Guinot¹ , Daniel Auchere¹ , Jean-Paul Macaire¹ , Pierre Weill² , Alain Grynberg¹ and Delphine Rousseau-Ralliard¹

¹  Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Paris-Sud 11, Unité Mixte de Recherche 1154, Lipides Membranaires et Régulation Fonctionnelle du Coeur et des Vaisseaux, Institut Fédératif de Recherche 141, Faculté de Pharmacie, Châtenay-Malabry, F-92296, France

²  Société Valorex, Combourtillé, France

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Nutrition & Metabolism 2009, 6:14doi:10.1186/1743-7075-6-14

Published:	25 March 2009

Abstract

Background

Previous work showed that the functional cardiac effect of dietary alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) in rats requires a long feeding period (6 months), although a docosahexaenoic (DHA) acid-supply affects cardiac adrenergic response after 2 months. However, the total cardiac membrane n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) composition remained unchanged after 2 months. This delay could be due to a specific reorganization of the different subcellular membrane PUFA profiles. This study was designed to investigate the evolution between 2 and 6 months of diet duration of the fatty acid profile in sarcolemmal (SL), mitochondrial (MI), nuclear (NU) and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) membrane fractions.

Methods

Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to 3 dietary groups (n = 10/diet/period), either n-3 PUFA-free diet (CTL), or ALA or DHA-rich diets. After 2 or 6 months, the subcellular cardiac membrane fractions were separated by differential centrifugations and sucrose gradients. Each membrane profile was analysed by gas chromatography (GC) after lipid extraction.

Results

As expected the n-3 PUFA-rich diets incorporated n-3 PUFA instead of n-6 PUFA in all the subcellular fractions, which also exhibited individual specificities. The diet duration increased SFA and decreased PUFA in SL, whereas NU remained constant. The SR and MI enriched in n-3 PUFA exhibited a decreased DHA level with ageing in the DHA and CTL groups. Conversely, the n-3 PUFA level remained unchanged in the ALA group, due to a significant increase in docosapentaenoic acid (DPA). N-3 PUFA rich diets lead to a better PUFA profile in all the fractions and significantly prevent the profile modifications induced by ageing.

Conclusion

With the ALA diet the n-3 PUFA content, particularly in SR and SL kept increasing between 2 and 6 months, which may partly account for the delay to achieve the modification of adrenergic response.