Influence of Dietary Fat, Fasting, and Acute Premature Weaning on in Vivo Rates of Fatty Acid Synthesis in Lactating Mice

Abstract

In vivo rates of fatty acid synthesis in liver, removable adipose tissue, and mammary gland were obtained in mice. Liver contributed 60 to 65%, and adipose tissue 35 to 40% of the fatty acids synthesized in virgin mice fed a high-carbohydrate diet. Mice in the 18th and 19th day of gestation synthesized less than half the quantity of fatty acids synthesized in virgin mice, even though the pregnant mice consumed more food than the virgin mice. Rates of fatty acid synthesis were elevated more than threefold in lactating mice and 71 to 83% of the fatty acid synthesis occurred in the mammary gland of the lactating mice. Fasting for 12 hr or consumption of a high-fat diet for 5 days depressed rates of fatty acid synthesis in all three tissues examined. Removal of the pups for 12 hr decreased the rate of fatty acid synthesis in mammary gland and increased the rate in adipose tissue of lactating mice.