Table 5.

Mean serum concentrations of phosphatidylcholines (PC) 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 to 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
PC aa	PC aa C32:2	–1	3·76	0·40	4·30	0·43	0·75	0·67	0·11
		12	4·62		3·79
	PC aa C36:0	–1	20·23	2·23	24·09	2·39	0·71	0·68	0·05
		12	26·04		20·15
	PC aa C36:6	–1	1·27	0·13	1·45A	0·14	0·41	0·29	0·03
		12	1·44c		0·99Bd
	PC aa C38:0	–1	3·93	0·36	4·80	0·39	0·46	0·96	0·02
		12	5·07c		3·70d
	PC aa C38:6	–1	58·84A	7·49	65·97A	8·02	0·71	0·01	0·26
		12	93·27B		80·67B
	PC aa C40:2	–1	1·87	0·18	2·32A	0·20	0·40	0·08	0·02
		12	2·03c		1·30Bd
	PC aa C40:6	–1	67·90A	9·65	75·02A	10·33	0·95	0·003	0·44
		12	112·35B		103·86B
PC ae	PC ae C36	–1	3·20	0·32	3·68	0·34	0·52	0·63	0·04
		12	3·77		2·79
	PC ae C40:6	–1	4·33	0·45	5·04	0·48	0·64	0·13	0·05
		12	6·01		4·81
	PC aa C40:1	–1	0·79	0·08	0·95A	0·08	0·47	0·41	0·01
		12	0·95c		0·66Bd
Totals	PC aa	–1	158·19A	19·70	179·33A	21·15	0·84	0·009	0·22
		12	245·39B		215·55B
	PC ae	–1	6·748A	0·84	9·323	0·87	0·46	0·36	0·04
		12	9·49B		8·211

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).