DIETARY FATTY ACIDS DURING
PREGNANCY DETERMINES MATERNAL FATTY ACID PROFILE DURING LATE PREGNANCY AND THEIR AVAILABILITY TO THE FETUS EVEN DURING FASTING CONDITIONS
I. López-Soldado, H. Ortega, E. Amusquivar and E. Herrera
Faculty of Science and Health, University San Pablo CEU, Madrid, Spain
Introduction: Anabolic changes taking place during early pregnancy are driven by an enhanced insulin sensitivity, which facilitates adipose tissue accumulation. whereas in late pregnancy an enhanced catabolic condition develops which may affect adipose tissue composition. By determining the fatty acid profile after a 24 h fast in pregnant rats fed with diets having different oil supplements, we wanted to determine whether an accelerated adipose tissue breakdown warrants the availability of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) to the fetus.
Methods: From the first day of pregnancy, Sprague-Dawley rats were fed ad libitum a semi synthetic diet containing 10% of either palm oil, sunflower oil, olive oil or fish oil. Half of the rats of each group were kept fed, whereas thef other half were fasted from day 19 of pregnancy. All rats were studied at day 20.
Results: Fasting enhances plasma free fatty acids, glycerol, ketone bodies and triacylglycerols in all groups, the effect being smaller in rats fed the olive oil diet than in the other groups. Plasma levels of 16:0,18:0,18:1n-9,18:2 n-6,18:3n- 3,20:4n-6 and 22:6 n-3 appeared higher in fasted than in fed rats under the different diets except in those on olive oil diet. Plasma levels of 20:4 n-6 appeared lower in rats fed the fish oil diet than in the other groups. The proportion of fatty acids in fetal liver follows a similar trend, with higher n-3 fatty acids and lower 20:4 n-6 in those from mothers fed fish oil diet, and maternal fasting enhanced the proportion of both 18:2 n-6 and 18:3 n-3 in fetal liver in all groups, with the smallest increase in those fed olive oil diet.
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Conclusions: Dietary fatty acids during pregnancy determines maternal fatty acid profile during late pregnancy and their availability to the fetus even during fasting conditions.
