F. Gondret et al., EFFECTS OF DIETARY FATTY-ACIDS ON LIPOGENESIS AND LIPID TRAITS IN MUSCLE, ADIPOSE-TISSUE AND LIVER OF GROWING RABBITS, Animal Science, 66, 1998, pp. 483-489
The effects of fat source on lipogenesis and lipid traits of longissim
us muscle, liver and perirenal adipose tissue, weve studied in 48 New
Zealand White rabbits, slaughtered at 11 or 15 weeks of age. Rabbits w
ere offered diets with 20 g added fat per kg, containing either medium
-chain (COC: coconut oil), saturated and monounsaturated (PAL: palm oi
l) or polyunsaturated (SUN: sunflower oil) fatty acids as major compon
ents. Diets did not affect growth performance, dressing proportion and
tissue weights. Intramuscular lipid content was lower for COC than fo
r SUN and PAL (e.g. 10 v. 13 and 12 g/kg, at 11 weeks, respectively, P
< 0.05), whereas lipid content was unaffected by diet in liver and pe
rirenal fat. In muscle, the fat source did not influence the activitie
s of acetyl-CoA-carboxylase (CBX), malic enzyme (ME) and glucose-6-pho
sphodehydrogennse (GGPDH). In liver, activities of G6PDH and ME were d
epressed from the SUN diet, as compared with the COC or PAL diets. The
diet-induced variations in enzyme activities in perirenal fat were lo
wer than in the liver and were not significant. Medium-chain fatty aci
ds were found only in tissue lipids of animals given COG. The ratio of
polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids decreased in the order SUN >
PAL > COC in muscle and perirenal fat. Thus, polyunsaturated fat ty a
cids exert an inhibition of G6PDH and ME activities specifically in li
ver. Compared with COG, the addition of SUN to the basal diet increase
d total lipids and polyunsaturated fatty acids contents in the longiss
imus lumborum muscle, which might improve the organoleptic and dieteti
c qualities of rabbit meat.