ENTERAL FEEDING A STRUCTURED LIPID EMULSION CONTAINING FISH-OIL PREVENTS THE FATTY LIVER OF SEPSIS

Fish oils (FO) have been shown to reduce plasma triglycerides (TG). In this study we evaluated whether enteral feeding with a structured lip id emulsion (SLE) containing FO and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) w ould prevent the hypertriglyceridemia and fatty infiltration of the li ver that develops during sepsis. For five days, male Lewis rats (275-3 00 g) were fed intragastrically a nutritionally complete diet containi ng a SLE or a similar diet with a soybean oil emulsion (SOE) in place of the SLE. On the fifth day, sepsis was induced by intravenously inje cting 8 x 10(7) live Escherichia coil colonies/100 g b.w.; 24 h later the control SLE, septic SLE, control SOE, and septic SOE rats were sac rificed. Diet, but not treatment, had a significant effect on serum TC and free fatty acids (FFA). Feeding the SLE reduced the plasma FFA of the control and septic rats by more than 50% in comparison to both co ntrol and septic rats fed the SOE. Soleus muscle activity of lipoprote in lipase from the septic SLE rats was 44% higher than the control SLE rats. Soleus muscle from the septic SLE rats also had a twofold great er activity of lipoprotein lipase than the septic SOE rats. TG did not accumulate in the livers of the septic rats fed SLE when compared to the control SLE rats and the rats fed the SOE. Livers from the septic rats fed the SLE had a third of the TG that were present in the livers from the septic rats fed the SOE, The rate of incorporation of [C-14] oleate into liver lipids was significantly lower in septic rats fed SL E than in those fed the SOE. TC esterification was 70% lower in the se ptic rats fed SLE rather than the SOE, Our findings suggest that the S LE with FO and MCT has a role in the prevention of the sepsis-associat ed fatty liver by reducing the biosynthesis of liver TG.