Failure of dietary erucic acid to impair oxidative capacity or APT production of rat heart mitochondria isolated under controlled conditions.

1. Male, 8-week old rats were fed Purina Rat Chow for semisynthetic diets containing 20% by weight of rapeseed oil or corn oil for 3 days. 2. The hearts from the animals fed the three diets were analyzed for total lipid, phospholipid, free fatty acids, cholesterol esters, tri-, di- and monoacylglyerols. There was a seven-fold increase in the levels of triacylglycerols in the hearts of rats fed rapeseed oil diet compared to the levels in the hearts of animals fed the other two diets. Smaller increases in the content of other neutral lipid fractions were also observed. 3. Heart mitochondria from the three groups of animals were isolated under controlled conditions in the presence or absence of heparin. The rats of oxidation of different substrates and of ATP synthesis by these mitochondria were compared. 4. Mitochondria isolated in the absence of heparin from rapeseed oil-fed rats had much lower rates of oxidation and ATP synthesis than mitochondria isolated similarly from rats fed the other two diets. 5. With mitochondria freshly isolated in the presence of heparin, no significant differences in rates of oxidation or ATP synthesis were found among the three groups of animals. 6. It is concluded that, when properly isolated, mitochondria from rapeseed oil-fed rats are functionally intact with respect to oxidation and energy-coupling capacity.