Dietary supplementation of undernourished rats with soy or safflower oil: effects on myelin polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Undernourished suckling rats were administered, by gastric intubation, either soy oil (which is rich in both linoleic and linolenic acids) or safflower oil (which is rich in linoleic acid but deficient in linolenic acid) to determine (1) if dietary supplementation would offset the hypomyelination characteristic of the undernourished, developing brain and (2) to compare myelin fatty acids in normal, undernourished, and oil-supplemented rats. Myelin recovery was not increased by supplementation with either oil. The proportions of C22:4 and C22:6 fatty acids were reduced in myelin of the undernourished rats. Undernourished rats supplemented with either soy or safflower oil had higher than normal proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids (C20:4 and C22:6). The triene-tetraene ratio in the oil-supplemented rats was lower than in normal controls, indicating that the oil-supplemented rats were not deficient in essential fatty acids. No significant differences were observed between the oil-supplemented groups.