Effects of dietary treatment of rats with eicosapentaenoic acid or docosahexaenoic acid on hepatic lipid metabolism

(1) Effects of dietary treatment of male albino rats with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid on hepatic mitochondrial lipid metabolism have been investigated. (2) Mitochondria isolated from rats given these treatments were shown to have increased ability to respire on acyl-CoA esters in the presence of malonate. This effect was expressed with most of the long-chain acyl-CoA esters used as substrates. When malonate in the incubations was replaced with malate, mitochondria from treated animals were found to exhibit diminished rates of respiration on polyunsaturated acyl-CoA esters, in particular linolenoyl-, eicosapentaenoyl- and docosahexaenoyl-CoA. This phenomenon could not…