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Enteral diets containing borage and fish oils were fed to pigs with cardiopulmonary dysfunction following endotoxin-induced acute lung injury to determine if n-3 and gamma-linolenic acid (gamma-LA) can be used in the management of acute lung injury. The results show that dietary eicosapentaenoic acid and gamma-LA improved oxygen delivery and gas exchange, possibly by modifications of eicosanoid synthesis combined with an increase in cardiac output and reduction of pulmonary vascular resistance.

A mechanism in the livers of neonatal rats may which inhibits oxidation of linolic and linolenic n-3 and n-6 fatty acids and expresses them in triacylglycerol. Researchers compared the metabolism of fatty acids in the liver tissue of neonatal rats at various ages and adult rats. Livers of rats at ages 11 and 21 had two to four times higher secretions of triacylgycerol compared to cellular retention. Adult hepatocytes cultures incorporate greater ratios of each fatty acids species in to cellular triacylglycerol than phospholipid as compared to neonatal hepatocytes.

Bessesen, Daniel H., S. Holly Vensor, and Matthew R. Jackman. Trafficking of dietary oleic, linolenic, and stearic acids in fasted or fed lean rats. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 278: E1124-E1132, 2000.--Increasing evidence supports the notion that there are significant differences in the health effects of diets enriched in saturated, as opposed to monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat. However, the current understanding of how these types of fat differ in their handling by relevant tissues is incomplete. To examine the effects of fat type and nutritional status on the metabolic fate of dietary fat, we administered [sup.14]C-labeled oleic, linolenic, or stearic acid with a small liquid meal to male Sprague-Dawley rats previously fasted for 15 h (fasted) or previously fed ad libitum (fed). [sup.14][CO.sub.2] production was measured for 8 h after tracer administration. The [sup.14]C content of gastrointestinal tract, serum, liver, skeletal muscle (soleus, lateral, and medial gastrocnemius), and adipose tissue (omental, retroperitoneal, and epididymal) was measured at six time points (2, 4, 8, 24, and 48 h and 10 days) after tracer administration. Plasma levels of glucose, insulin, and triglyceride were also measured. Oxidation of stearic acid was significantly less than that of either linolenic or oleic acid in both the fed and fasted states. This reduction was in part explained by a greater retention of stearic acid within skeletal muscle and liver. Oxidation of oleate and stearate were significantly lower in the fed state than in the fasted state. In the fasted state, liver and skeletal muscle were quantitatively more important than adipose tissue in the uptake of dietary fat tracers during the immediate postprandial period. In contrast, adipose tissue was quantitatively more important than skeletal muscle or liver in the fed state. The movement of carbons derived from dietary fat between tissues is a complex time-dependent process, which varies in response to the type of fat ingested and the metabolic state of the organism. dietary fat; skeletal muscle; adipose tissue; fuel partitioning; triglyceride