Effect of a high-fat diet with partially hydrogenated fish oil on long-chain fatty acid metabolizing enzymes in subcellular fractions of rat liver

Abstract

Hepatic metabolism of long-chain fatty acids were studied in young male rats fed a semisynthetic diet containing 20% ( w w ) partially hydrogenated fish oil (PHFO) 2, with or without 2% ( w w ) linoleic acid. The enzymic activities involved in the formation and breakdown of long-chain acyl-CoA were both increased in the animals fed the semisynthetic diet, compared to pellet-fed control animals. Thus, the specific palmitoyl-CoA synthetase activity increased slightly in both the mitochondrial (1.4-fold) and the microsomal (1.6-fold) fractions. In the peroxisome-enriched fraction the activity was increased (about 2.6-fold) only on addition of linoleic acid to the diet. The data are consistent with an increased catabolism of long-chain fatty acids by a peroxisomal and a mitochondrial pathway. Thus, the total carnitine palmitoyltransferase activity increased 2-fold in the mitochondrial fraction, and was partly prevented by added linoleic acid. Peroxisomal β-oxidation activity was also increased (about 7-fold) in livers of PHFO-fed rats, but did not change when linoleic acid was added. The PHFO-fed rats also revealed elevated capacity for hydrolysis of palmitoyl-CoA in both the mitochondrial (2.4-fold) and the cytosolic (2.0-fold) fractions and the latter was almost completely and selectively prevented by added linoleic acid. The s̄ values of mitochondria and peroxisomes varied with the dietary regime, and some of the observed changes in the specific activities of the fatty acid metabolizing enzymes with multiple subcellular localization can be explained as an effect of changes in the s̄ values of the organelles. Thus, the s̄ value of mitochondria increased 1.8-fold as a result of PHFO feeding, but was fully prevented by linoleic acid in the diet. On the other hand, the s̄ values of peroxisomes decreased by about 50% on feeding a PHFO diet, and by about 25% with added linoleic acid.