Table 7.

Mean serum concentrations of hydroxysphingomyelins (HSM) and sphingomyelins (SM) 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
HSM	HSM C14:1	–1	7·75	0·84	8·83	0·90	0·51	0·21	0·06
		12	10·60		8·22
	HSM C16:1	–1	3·28	0·36	3·93	0·38	0·93	0·35	0·17
		12	4·32		3·72
	HSM C22:1	–1	14·84A	1·44	17·39	1·55	0·67	0·26	0·04
		12	19·81B		15·79
	HSM C22:2	–1	7·49	0·70	8·57	0·75	0·55	0·54	0·04
		12	9·49		7·44
	HSM C24:1	–1	2·37	0·22	2·95	0·24	0·87	0·51	0·06
		12	3·10		2·59
SM	SM C16:0	–1	124·17	1·66	148·75	12·54	0·67	0·95	0·02
		12	153·93		117·42
	SM C16:1	–1	4·57	0·44	5·31	0·47	0·48	0·99	0·07
		12	5·60		4·29
	SM C18:0	–1	21·43	2·31	25·07	2·47	0·81	0·39	0·16
		12	28·05		23·43
	SM C18:1	–1	4·70	0·50	5·48	0·54	0·76	0·74	0·17
		12	5·82		4·78
	SM C20:2	–1	0·32	0·04	0·34	0·04	0·32	0·40	0·09
		12	0·42		0·30
Totals	HSM	–1	35·68A	3·53	41·72	3·79	0·68	0·29	0·04
		12	47·27B		37·81
	SM	–1	155·14	14·36	185·00	15·41	0·61	0·91	0·05
		12	193·77		150·28

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).