Abstract
The biosynthesis of fatty acids has been studied in lactating rabbits at 6h after intravenous injection of sodium [1-14C]acetate. The specific radioactivities of the individual fatty acids (C6:0 to C14:0) and the proportions of these fatty acids synthesized were similar in mammary tissue and milk. Hexanoic acid had the highest specific radioactivity, and the C8:0–C14:0 fatty acids had similar specific radioactivities, which were about five times those of C16 and C18 acids. No radioactivity was detected in fatty acids of chain length <C14 in the liver, blood or adipose tissue and the specific radioactivities of fatty acids of chain length >C14 in these tissues were similar to those of the long-chain fatty acids in the milk and mammary gland. The results show that the C4:0–C14:0 fatty acids are synthesized within the mammary gland rather than by fatty acid uptake from circulating blood or by oxidation of long-chain fatty acids within the gland. We conclude that de novo synthesis of esterified fatty acids in vivo by this tissue has a high degree of chain-length specificity.
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