Abstract
Subcutaneous backfat samples from pigs receiving diets with or without 250 ppm supplemental copper were separated into glycerides (GLY) and free fatty acids (FFA) and the fatty acid composition of each fraction was determined. In addition, the effect of dietary copper on the distribution of 14C- from U-14C-glucose between GLY and FFA in depot fat was examined. The basal diet consisted of 90.1% barley and 7.5% herring meal. Results from three experiments suggest that copper may act in adipose tissue of the pig by increasing the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) in both the FFA and GLY fractions in animals of 60–70 kg liveweight. The distribution of 14C activity in the fatty acids of the GLY and FFA fractions indicated a higher specific activity of the FFA fraction compared with that of the GLY fatty acids. The GLY/FFA ratio was lower for copper-supplemented animals kept in a cold environment. The overall data suggest that a considerable proportion of newly synthesized acids exists in adipose tissue in the free form.
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