Effect of the Consumption of Glycerides Containing Behenic Acid on the Lipid Content of the Heart of Weanling Rats

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Abstract
For 7 days weanling rats were fed diets containing 19% of fat that consisted of various levels of the glycerides of behenic or erucic acid. The animals were killed and the level of lipids in the heart was determined. The amount of lipids in the heart increased in proportion to the level of erucic acid in the diet. When erucic acid constituted approximately 50% of the dietary fat, there was a two- to threefold increase in heart lipids. By contrast, the consumption of a fat containing behenic acid resulted in no accumulation of lipids in the heart. This was true whether the dietary fat was completely hydrogenated rapeseed oil, in which the erucic acid had been converted to behenic acid, or a mixture of mono-, di-, and triglycerides prepared from the completely hydrogenated rapeseed oil. A similar lack of an increase in heart lipids was observed when the dietary fat was 2-behenoyl dilinolein. The observations may be the result of either the inability of behenic acid to cause an accumulation of heart lipids or the inability of the animal to absorb a significant amount of behenic acid. The impaired absorption of behenic acid was demonstrated in thoracic duct cannulated rats; following the feeding of 2-behenoyl dilinolein, only 24% of the behenate moiety was found in the lymph.