Fig. 1.

Overexpressed fatty acid elongases alter hepatocyte lipid composition. Rat primary hepatocytes were either not infected with recombinant adenovirus or infected with recombinant adenovirus expressing luciferase (Ad-Luc), fatty acid elongase-2 (Elovl-2; Ad-Elovl2) or Elovl-5 (Ad-Elovl5) (see Materials and Methods). Cells were treated for 24 h with 250 μM Williams E medium containing 25 mM glucose, 50 μM BSA, 10 nM dexamethasone, and 1 μM insulin. Cells were extracted for total lipids; lipids were saponified, fractionated, and quantified by reverse-phase (RP)-HPLC (17, 34). Results are expressed as mol% (mean ± range; n = 2) and are representative of several studies. The mol% values of 16:0, 18:0, 18:1,n-7 and 18:1,n-9, 18:2,n-6, and 20:4,n-6 are shown in A; the mol% of n-3 PUFAs (20:5,n-3, 22:5,n-3, 22:6,n-3, and 24:5,n-3) are shown in B.