Table 4.

Mean serum concentrations of acyl carnitines analysed by Di-MS in kittens pre-gonadectomy (week −1) and post-gonadectomy (week 12) after supplementation with additional choline at 300 mg/kg BW^0·75 (CHOLINE, n 8) for 12 weeks compared with a control group (CONTROL, n 7) fed only the base diet (3310 mg choline/kg DM)

			CHOLINE (n 8)		CONTROL (n 7)
Metabolites (µM)		Week	LSM	sem	LSM	sem	P Group	P Time	P Group × Time
Free	C0	–1	5·96	0·48	6·64	0·52	0·77	0·06	0·32
		12	7·54		7·17
Short	C2	–1	0·70	0·08	0·83	0·08	0·05	0·10	0·59
		12	0·8		1·02
	C3	–1	0·065c	0·01	0·089d	0·01	0·10	0·06	0·04
		12	0·07		0·073
	C3 OH	–1	0·019	0·001	0·019	0·001	0·80	0·97	0·94
		12	0·019		0·02
	C3:1	–1	0·01	0·001	0·012	0·001	0·48	0·26	0·56
		12	0·0096		0·0098
	C4	–1	0·038	0·01	0·053	0·01	0·04	0·10	0·96
		12	0·049		0·065
	C4 OH	–1	0·023	0·001	0·024	0·001	0·50	0·21	0·80
		12	0·021		0·022
	C4:1	–1	0·016A	0·001	0·018	0·001	0·35	0·01	0·76
		12	0·02B		0·02
	C5	–1	0·052	0·01	0·081	0·01	0·08	0·16	0·30
		12	0·075		0·085
	C5 OH	–1	0·023	0·002	0·025	0·002	0·26	0·07	0·89
		12	0·026		0·029
	C5 DC	–1	0·012	0·001	0·01	0·001	0·62	0·93	0·23
		12	0·012		0·012
	C5 MDC	–1	0·017	0·001	0·015	0·001	0·28	0·96	0·49
		12	0·017		0·016
	C5:1	–1	0·018	0·002	0·022	0·002	0·21	0·62	0·62
		12	0·02		0·022
	C5:1 DC	–1	0·012A	0·001	0·012A	0·001	0·65	0·004	0·79
		12	0·016B		0·015B
Medium	C6	–1	0·046	0·003	0·043	0·003	0·92	0·48	0·36
		12	0·045		0·047
	C6:1	–1	0·030A	0·002	0·031A	0·002	0·47	0·01	0·91
		12	0·036B		0·038B
	C7 DC	–1	0·0084	0·003	0·012	0·012	0·03	0·14	0·19
		12	0·0089c		0·033d
	C8	–1	0·014	0·001	0·017	0·001	0·18	0·13	0·13
		12	0·018		0·017
	C9	–1	0·0072	0·001	0·0081	0·001	0·46	0·25	0·63
		12	0·0085		0·0087
	C10	–1	0·04	0·002	0·04	0·002	0·92	0·20	0·91
		12	0·037		0·037
	C10:1	–1	0·089A	0·005	0·08A	0·005	0·18	0·02	0·78
		12	0·077B		0·07B
	C10:2	–1	0·013	0·001	0·013	0·001	0·99	0·63	0·88
		12	0·014		0·014
	C12	–1	0·032	0·002	0·033	0·002	0·70	0·13	0·97
		12	0·029		0·030
	C12 DC	–1	0·017	0·001	0·015	0·001	0·16	0·58	0·16
		12	0·016		0·016
	C12:1	–1	0·052	0·003	0·049	0·003	0·43	0·33	0·98
		12	0·049		0·046
Long	C14	–1	0·021	0·002	0·023	0·002	0·44	0·27	0·78
		12	0·024		0·025
	C14:1	–1	0·069	0·007	0·083	0·008	0·99	0·56	0·07
		12	0·087		0·073
	C14:1 OH	–1	0·011	0·001	0·013	0·001	0·33	0·26	0·56
		12	0·013		0·014
	C14:2	–1	0·012	0·001	0·012	0·001	0·66	0·09	0·63
		12	0·014		0·015
	C14:2 OH	–1	0·014	0·001	0·016	0·001	0·85	0·50	0·05
		12	0·016		0·014
	C16	–1	0·10	0·01	0·12	0·015	0·94	0·13	0·25
		12	0·15		0·13
	C16 OH	–1	0·0082	0·001	0·0083	0·001	0·35	0·26	0·43
		12	0·0086		0·01
	C16:1	–1	0·035A	0·003	0·038A	0·003	0·68	0·001	0·57
		12	0·052B		0·051B
	C16:1 OH	–1	0·013	0·001	0·015	0·001	0·60	0·09	0·61
		12	0·016		0·016
	C16:2	–1	0·01A	0·001	0·0093A	0·001	0·81	0·04	0·58
		12	0·012B		0·013B
	C16:2 OH	–1	0·0084	0·006	0·0080	0·001	0·37	0·77	0·89
		12	0·0087		0·0081
	C18	–1	0·072	0·009	0·089	0·01	0·23	0·15	0·56
		12	0·096		0·099
	C18:1	–1	0·087	0·02	0·104	0·02	0·94	0·10	0·33
		12	0·14		0·12
	C18:1 OH	–1	0·0097A	0·001	0·0098A	0·001	0·52	0·04	0·42
		12	0·012B		0·011B
	C18:2	–1	0·034	0·005	0·038	0·006	0·94	0·09	0·53
		12	0·049		0·045
Totals	Total short-chain AC	–1	1·043A	0·09	1·116A	0·09	0·17	0·02	0·44
		12	1·194B		1·402B
	Total medium-chain AC	–1	0·346	0·02	0·352	0·02	0·05	0·33	0·16
		12	0·337c		0·403d
	Total long-chain AC	–1	0·503A	0·06	0·552A	0·07	0·74	0·05	0·68
		12	0·686B		0·676B
	Total AC	–1	7·838A	0·60	8·677A	0·64	0·60	0·03	0·45
		12	9·747B		9·659B

LSM, least square means.

Rows or columns with no superscript indicates no significant differences for the measured parameter.

Down a column, different upper-case superscript letters (A, B) denote significant differences (P < 0·05) following a Tukey’s post hoc analysis within group (CHOLINE or CONTROL) over time (week −1 to week 12).

Across a row, different lower-case letters (c, d) denote significant differences (P < 0·05) following a Tukey’s post hoc analysis between groups (CHOLINE and CONTROL) at one time point (week −1 or week 12).

Short = C2 + C3 + C3 OH + C3:1 + C4 + C4 OH + C4:1 + C5 + C5 OH + C5 DC + C5 MDC + C5:1 + C5:1 DC.

Medium = C6 + C6:1 + C7 DC + C8 + C9 + C10 + C10:1 + C10:2 + C12 + C12 DC + C12:1.

Long = C14 + C14:1 + C14:1OH + C14:2 + C14:2OH + C16 + C16OH + C16:1 + C16:1OH + C16:2 + C16:2OH + C18 + C18:1 + C18:1 OH + C18.