Influence of diets containing different natural oils on the incorporation of [1-14C]acetate in the various lipid fractions of rat liver

Abstract

1. A comparative study was undertaken with rats on the effect of various diets (normal stock, fat-free, palm oil and olive oil) on the in vitro incorporation of [14C]acetate by the liver into cholesterol and into the fatty acids of phospholipids and neutral fats. 2. The total lipids extracted from the incubation mixtures were fractionated into acetone-precipitable and digi- tonin-precipitable portions and also into the fatty acids of neutral lipids. 3. The incorporation of [14C]acetate into the acetone-precipitable fraction and into fatty acids of neutral fats was greatest in livers of rats given the fat-free diet, followed by those of the groups given olive oil, the normal stock diet, and palm oil. Livers from the group given the fat-free diet also exhibited the highest percentage of14C activity in the digitonin-precipitable fraction and were closely followed by the group on the normal stock diet. Compared with those of the other two groups, the livers of the groups given olive oil and palm oil showed much less activity in the digitonin- precipitable fraction. 4. The greater the amount of a specific type of fatty acid in the diet, the less was the14C activity incorporated into that type of fattyacid in the ncutral fats of liver slices, hut this was not so with the fatty acids obtained froin the acetone-precipitahlc fraction of the lipids.