The incorporation of fatty acids of different chain length into liver and biliary lipids in the perfused rat liver

Moshe Rubin*, Ronit Pakula, Tuvia Gilat, Alisa Tietz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

In an attempt to correlate the incorporation of fatty acids (FA) of different chain length into liver and biliary lipids, isolated rat livers were perfused for 2 h with Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate containing 1% albumin and 10 μmol of [1-14C]-labeled FA: C2, C8, C10, C12, C16, and C(18:1). One to 1.36 μmol of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA, C8, C10, and C12) and 6.6 μmol of long-chain FA (LCFA) were incorporated into liver lipids, 40% of the latter into phosphatidylcholine (PC). 14C-acetate (13 nmol) was incorporated into biliary cholesterol; 14C-MCFA contributed only 3.2-5 nmol; LCFA did not lead to newly synthesized cholesterol. Newly synthesized liver PC (2.75 to 3.25%) and newly synthesized liver cholesterol (6.5 to 10%) were secreted into bile. The specific radioactivity of biliary PC after infusion of all-saturated FA was 3.8-6.8 times higher than that of liver PC; for C(18:1) it was only 1.7-fold. The specific radioactivity of biliary cholesterol, as compared to liver cholesterol, was 12 times higher for C2 and five times higher for MCFA. This indicates that a considerable proportion of the newly synthesized lipids was secreted into bile prior to significant mixing with preexisting liver PC and cholesterol pools. Liver PC contained 8% of unchanged 14C-C12; while 14C-C10 was not detected. Biliary PC, in contrast, contained 18% of unchanged 14C-C12 and 3% 14C-C10. These results suggest that after prolonged infusion of medium-chain triacylglycerols/long-chain triacylglycerols to patients, biliary PC may become enriched with MCFA. In addition, the oxidation of these FA may provide C-2 units which increase cholesterol synthesis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)571-578
Number of pages8
JournalLipids
Volume34
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1999

Funding

FundersFunder number
Minerva Center for Cholesterol Gallstones and Lipid Metabolism
Tel Aviv University

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