Influence of dietary essential fatty acid level on fatty acid composition in peripheral nerve and muscle.

Two groups of rats of different lines were divided into two lots. The four lots, whose dams received a fat-controlled diet, were fed with diets containing different levels of essential unsaturated fatty acids, namely linoleic (18:2 (n-6)) and linolenic (18:2 (n-3)) acid, in the oil. Nerve and muscle fatty acids were analyzed at adulthood. When the linolenic acid level was less than 0.6 p. 100 of the total fatty acids in the diets (peanut oil and sunflower oil), the level of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of the (n-3) series decreased. This decrease was associated with an increase in the PUFA of the (n-6) series. Total PUFA ((n-3) + (n-6)) remained similar in the same group of rats, whatever the diet. On the contrary, when dietary linolenic acid reached 7.6 p. 100 (soya oil) or 8.5 p. 100 (rapeseed oil) of the total fatty acids, in the presence of a very high linoleic acid level, the PUFA of the (n-6) series decreased and that of the (n-3) series increased in nerve and especially in muscle. It appears that preferential PUFA biosynthesis from linolenic acid occurred when the ratio (n-6)/(n-3) was low enough in the dietary oil.