Pf. Surai et Nhc. Sparks, Tissue-specific fatty acid and alpha-tocopherol profiles in male chickens depending on dietary tuna oil and vitamin E provision, POULTRY SCI, 79(8), 2000, pp. 1132-1142
The beneficial health-promoting effects of the long-chain polyunsaturated f
atty acids (PUFA) of the n-3 series make them important constituents of hum
an and animal diets. The effects of tuna oil or a combination of tuna oil w
ith an increased level of vitamin E on the fatty acid profile and vitamin E
distribution in tissues taken from cockerels were studied. Male chickens (
Ross broiler breeders), penned on white wood shavings, were allocated into
one of three groups with 12 birds per group and were fed from 10 wk of age
on a commercial diet supplemented with 3% corn oil (control) or with 3% Tun
a orbital oil (TO). Vitamin E was added at the rate of 40 mg/kg, except in
the third group in which the birds received a diet containing TO (3%) suppl
emented with 160 mg/kg vitamin E (TO+E). At 72 wk of age, the cockerels wer
e killed, and tissues (liver, testes, heart, lung, kidney, spleen, thigh mu
scle, pancreas, internal fat, cerebellum, and cerebrum) were dissected for
lipid and vitamin E analyses. Inclusion of TO in the cockerel diets signifi
cantly (P < 0.01) increased docosahexanoic acid (DHA) proportions in the ma
jor lipid fractions of the tissues with the brain being more resistant to l
ipid manipulation compared with the other tissues. Tissue enrichment with D
HA took place at the expense of a decrease of n-6 PUFA. In the DHA-enriched
tissues, vitamin E level decreased (P < 0.05), and susceptibility to perox
idation (TBARS accumulation) significantly (P < 0.01) increased. High vitam
in E supplementation (160 mg/kg) in combination with TO prevented decrease
of alpha-tocopherol concentration in the tissues and normalized or even inc
reased their resistance to lipid peroxidation. There was tissue-specificity
in response to dietary vitamin E supplementation; the liver was most respo
nsive and the cerebellum was most resistant to vitamin E manipulation.