Polyunsaturated fatty acids in tissues of growing male and female rats

Abstract

Polyunsaturated fatty acid concentrations of tissues were determined in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats of weanling, 3 months, and 6 months of age. No significant differences were found in concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids in corresponding tissues of male and female animals. Concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids in tissues of rats changed with age. The changes were different for each tissue and varied with the polyene concerned. Hexaenes comprised the greatest portion of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the brain of rats while dienes predominated in muscle and pentaenes in the testes. Tetraenes were in uniformly high concentrations in all organs and tissues studied and varied less with age than any of the other polyenes. Brain differed from other tissues in that it contained only trace amounts of dienes but relatively large quantities of tetraenes. In all tissues except brain a marked decrease was observed in hexaene concentration as animals matured from weanling to 6 months of age. Many of the tissues had lower tetraene and pentaene levels at 3 months than at either weanling or 6 months. The most marked change with age was the large increase in pentaene levels of testicular tissue between the ages of 3 weeks and 3 months.