Dietary fatty acids and the plasma phospholipids of the lactating cow

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Abstract
Summary Cows were given either a low-fat concentrate mixture or a concentrate mixture that contained 5 or 10% ‘stearic acid’ (85% pure) or 10% ‘palmitic acid’ (85% pure). The concentrate mixtures were given with a high roughage diet that supplied 4·4 kg of hay and 2·7 kg of sugar-beet pulp/day. Blood samples were taken from the cows on each dietary treatment and the plasma phospholipids were analysed. Phosphatidyl choline accounted for 70% of the plasma phospholipids when the cows were given the low-fat diet and about 86% of the plasma phospholipids when the cows were given the diets supplemented with the fatty acids. The inclusion of the fatty acids in the concentrate mixtures decreased the relative proportions of the plasma phosphatidyl ethanolamine, sphingomyelin and lysophosphatidyl choline but the relative proportion of the plasma phosphatidyl serine remained unchanged. When the diet was supplemented with stearic acid the concentrations of 18:0 and 16:0 in the phosphatidyl choline were unaltered but the concentration of 18:1 was increased and the concentration of 18:2 was decreased. When the diet was supplemented with palmitic acid the concentrations of 16:0 and 18:1 in the phosphatidyl choline were increased and the concentrations of 18:0 and 18:2 were decreased. In contrast, the inclusion of stearic acid in the diet increased the concentration of 18:0 in the phosphatidyl serine and decreased the concentration of 16:0; the concentrations of 18:1 and 18:2 were unchanged. The fatty acid composition of the plasma phosphatidyl ethanolamine was unaffected by dietary treatment. The effects of diet on the fatty acid compositions of the phosphatidyl choline and lysophosphatidyl choline were similar. Supplementation of the diet with stearic acid increased the concentrations of 18:0 and 18:1 in the plasma sphingomyelin and decreased the concentrations of 16:0 and 18:2. The addition of palmitic acid to the diet increased the concentration of 16:0 in the sphingomyelin but it decreased the concentrations of the other constituent fatty acids.