Effect of dietary fat on total and peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation in rat tissues.

In this study the effect of dietary trans fatty acids on the peroxisomal and mitochondrial beta-oxidation is compared with that of saturated or cis-monounsaturated fatty acids. Oxidation of [1-14C]- and [16-14C]palmitate was assayed in the absence as well as in the presence of antimycin plus rotenone in homogenates of liver, heart and skeletal muscle of four groups of rats fed diets containing 40 energy% fat of different fatty acid composition. Three groups were given fat blends rich in C16, C18 saturated (cocoa butter), cis-monounsaturated (low-linoleic-acid olive oil) or trans fatty acids (partially hydrogenated soybean oil), respectively. The fourth group received a mixture of these fats with half the amount of trans fatty acids of the third group. Total oxidation rates of [1-14C]- and [16-14C]palmitate in the absence of antimycin were not significantly influenced by the type of dietary fat in the investigated tissues. The antimycin-insensitive [1-14C]palmitate oxidation rate and the proportion of peroxisomal oxidation of the total oxidation were lower in all tissues of those animals fed the mixed dietary fat than in those fed the other diets; both parameters were higher in the liver of cocoa butter-fed rats than in those of the other groups. Comparison of the results with literature data and with previous results obtained with a low-fat diet (Veerkamp and Van Moerkerk (1986) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 875, 301-310) indicates that high-fat diets only induce peroxisomal beta-oxidation activity if they also contain C20, C22 fatty acids. High dietary concentrations of trans C18 fatty acids do not result in a higher peroxisomal activity than that observed for other fatty acids with the same chain length.