Effect of dietary fats on ovine adipose tissue metabolism

The effects of different dietary fats on ovine adipose tissue metabolism have been investigated. Six-month old sheep were fed for 6 weeks a control diet or diets supplemented with either tallow or a mixture of sunflower seed oil and soybean oil, treated to protect the fats from hydrolysis and hydrogenation in the rumen, or with maize oil. The rates of fatty acid, glyceride glycerol, and CO₂ formation were measured in perirenal and subcutaneous adipose tissue slices by following the incorporation of either¹⁴C from labeled acetate or glucose, or³H from tritiated water into the appropriate product. Feeding protected tallow or maize oil but not protected sunflower seed oil plus soybean oil resulted in reduced rates of fatty acid biosynthesis in both perirenal and subcutaneous adipose tissue slices and CO₂ formation in perirenal adipose tissue. Feeding the fat-supplemented diets had no effect on the rate of glyceride glycerol formation. The fat-supplemented diets also resulted in reduced activities of various enzymes, thought to be involved in lipogenesis, measured in 105,000× g supernatant fractions from adipose tissue homogenates. The results suggested that ovine adipose tissue lipogenesis is sensitive to both the amount and the nature of dietary fat.