Fig. 3.

Fatty acid elongase expression in livers of C57BL/6 mice infected with Ad-Luc or Ad-Elovl5. Mice received recombinant adenovirus (Ad-Luc or Ad-Elovl5) by retro-orbital injection of 2 × 10¹⁰ viral particles/mouse. After injection, mice received Teklad chow and water ad libitum. Mice showed no change in body weight or stress over the 5 day experiment. Food consumption was not different between groups (see supplementary Fig. III). Four days after injection, animals were euthanized (CO₂ inhalation) for blood and tissue recovery. A: Postnuclear liver homogenates were assayed for Na,K-ATPase and Elovl-5 content by immunoblots (upper panel). Levels of immunoreactivity were normalized to values seen in fasted Ad-Luc-infected animals. Results are expressed as fold change in Na,K-ATPase or Elovl-5 (mean ± SD, n = 3). * P < 0.05 versus fasted Ad-Luc-infected animals. B: Hepatic microsomes were prepared for the elongation assay. Three substrates were used, [¹⁴C]16:0-CoA, [¹⁴C]18:3,n-6, and [¹⁴C]20:4,n-6 (17). Results are expressed as elongase activity (nmol substrate converted to elongated product/mg protein; mean ± SD, n = 4). Results are representative of four separate studies. * P ⩽ 0.05, Ad-Luc versus Ad-Elovl5 infection.