Effect of feeding protected lipids on fatty acid synthesis in ovine tissues

The effects of including protected lipid supplements in the sheep diet have been studied by measuring the incorporation of 1-¹⁴C] acetate into tissue fatty acids in vivo and in vitro. Supplementing the diet with protected lipid significantly (P<0.05) depressed lipogenesis in adipose tissue both in vivo and in vitro. However, when protected lipids of different fatty acid composition were given to lambs, the protected safflower oil supplement containing high levels of linoleic acid was the only treatment to cause a significant (P<0.05) depression in fatty acid synthesis in adipose tissue, the major site of lipogenesis in the sheep. Larger adipose cells in the lipid-supplemented sheep indicate that these sheep were fatter than those receiving the basal diet. Therefore, supplemented wethers deposited more fat than sheep receiving the basal diet and this fat was derived from the supplement rather than from de novo synthesis.