Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Activity in the Liver, Brain and Adipose-Tissue of Lipid-Deprived Developing Rats. Effect of Minute Amounts of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
ABSTRACT:The present experiment was carried out using the following diets:FF, fat-free, andLPthe same diet with 0.7% sunflower oil - given to the progeny of females kept on theFFdiet since the mating. After 10 mM Mg2+ activation of the PDH phosphatase, the rate of [1-14C] pyruvate decarboxylation into acetyl-CoA ester units was determined in the liver, brain and adipose-tissue of the pair-fed developing rats.Results: In the male progeny, pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) activity was higher (61%) in theLPgroup livers than in theFFgroup livers, at the end of the 13 week experiment. Such a difference was not observed in the two group brains up to the 91 days postweaning, but was even larger (94%) between adipose-tissues of theLPandFFgroups. In the female progeny kept 12 weeks on the diets, PDH activity in theLPgroup tissues was also higher than in theFFgroup tissues: 63% in the liver, 43% in adipose-tissues, and less than 10% in the brain. Therefore, a minute amount of lipids high in linoleic acid appeared to increase PDH activity, and especially in the liver and adipose-tissues of animals kept on a strictly fat-free diet. This stimulation of the PDH activity seems closely related to the phospholipid rehabilitation in the tissues (decrease in the trienoic: tetraenoic acid ratio values).