The Metabolic Syndrome of 3-Depleted Rats. X: Comprehensive View

The present report complements recent publications on the occurrence of a metabolic syndrome in rats deprived of a dietary supply of long-chain polyunsaturated 3 fatty acids and on the attempt to correct the resulting metabolic and hormonal defects by exposure of the 3-depleted rats to a diet enriched with flaxseed oil rich in -linolenic acid (C18:3 3). Emphasis is placed (i) on the much slower time course for the depletion in docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6 3) and accumulation of docosapentaenoic acid (C22:5 6) and their reversal during dietary deprivation and replenishment of 3 fatty acids in brain phospholipids, as opposed to liver or intestinal phospholipids, (ii) on the role of circulating phospholipids in the transfer of C22:6 3, synthesized from C18:3 3 in hepatocytes, from the liver to the brain in the rats deprived of a dietary supply of 3 fatty acids, and (iii) on the unfavorable effect of an increase in the total lipid content of the diet from 5 to 10% (w/w) in the perspective of the correction of liver steatosis and visceral obesity in the 3-depleted rats.