Reprod. Nutr. Dev. 44 (2004) 123-130
DOI: 10.1051/rnd:2004019

In vivo oxidation of carboxyl-labelled cyclic fatty acids formed from linoleic and linolenic acids in the rat

Florent Joffre^a, Alexandre Roy^a, Lionel Bretillon^a, Bruno Pasquis^a, Jean-Pierre Sergiel^a, Olivier Loreau^b, Jean-Michel Chardigny^a and Jean-Louis Sébédio<sup>a

a</sup>  Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Unité de Nutrition Lipidique, Dijon, France
^b  Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique, Service des Molécules Marquées, Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

(Received 11 September 2003; accepted 21 January 2004)

Abstract - Cyclic fatty acid monomers (CFAM), which occur from the intramolecular cyclisation of linoleic and linolenic acids, are subsequently present in some edible oils and are suspected to induce metabolic disorders. One may suggest that the presence of a ring would alter the ability of the organism to oxidise these molecules. In order to test this hypothesis, we assessed the oxidative metabolism of CFAM in rats. For this purpose, rats were force-fed from 1.5 to 2.6 MBq of [1-¹⁴C]-linoleic acid, [1-¹⁴C]-linolenic acid, [1-¹⁴C]-CFAM-18:2 or [1-¹⁴C]-CFAM-18:3, and ¹⁴CO₂ production was monitored for 24h. The animals were then sacrificed and the radioactivity was determined in different tissues. No significant differences in ¹⁴CO₂ production were found 24h after the administration of CFAM and their respective precursors. Our data clearly demonstrate that, at least for the first -oxidation cycle, CFAM are oxidised in a similar way as both essential fatty acids.

Key words: heating oil / essential fatty acids / oxidation / metabolism

Corresponding author: Lionel Bretillon Lionel.Bretillon@dijon.inra.fr

© INRA, EDP Sciences 2004