Table 1. Plasma and brain parameters in unanesthetized rats fed different diets for 15 weeks.

Row 1: dietary composition. Row 2: unesterified plasma concentration of α-LNA and DHA (in brackets). Row 3: unesterified plasma concentrations of AA and DPAn-6 (in brackets); Row 4: Brain phospholipids DHA concentration. Row 5: AA and DPAn-6 (in brackets) concentrations in brain phospholipids. Row 6: DHA incorporation coefficient calculated by Eq. 1. Row 7: brain DHA incorporation rate calculated by Eq. 2. Row 8: whole brain (1.5 g) DHA incorporation (consumption) rate, in units of μmol/day.

			Diet During 15 Weeks Post-weaning
1	Parameter	Units	High DHA diet (5.1% α-LNA, 2.3% DHA, 4% fat)	High α-LNA diet (4.6% α-LNA, no DHA, 10% fat)	n-3 PUFA inadequate diet (0.2% α-LNA, no DHA, 10% fat)
2	cplasma(α-LNA) [cplasma(DHA)]	nmol/ml	41 ± 13# a [26 ± 12] a	27 ± 6# [6.5 ± 2.6] b	1.0 ± 0.45* [0.23 ± 0.10]* b
3	cplasma(AA) [cplasma(DPAn-6]	nmol/ml	22.5 ± 5.6 [2.3 ± 1.2] c	25 ± 4.8 [ND] b	34 ± 5.9 [8.7 ± 1.1]* b
4	DHA concentration in brain phospholipid, cbrain	μmol/g	17.6 ± 2.8 a 13.8 ± 4.9 c	12.0 ± 2.4 d	7.6 ± 1.5*d
5	Concentrations of AA and [DPAn-6] in brain phospholipid	μmol/g	11.1 ± 2.9 c [0.1 ± 0.04] c	9.4 ± 1.1 d [0.25 ± 0.06] d	9.8 ± 1.5 d [4.4 ± 1.8]* d
6	DHA incorporation coefficients, k*	ml/s/g × 10−4	2.2 ± 0.2 f	1.99 ± 0.3 e	2.83 ± 0.6* e
7	Rate DHA incorporation, Jin #	nmol/s/g × 10−4	17.4 ± 2.0 f	22.0 ± 5.0 e	0.23 ± 0.05* e
8	Daily rate DHA consumption by whole (1.5 g) brain	μmol/day	0.23 f	0.29 e	0.003 e

^#Mean ± S.D.; AA, arachidonic acid, DHA, docosahexaenoic acid, α-LNA, α-linolenic acid, DPA, docosapentaenoic acid, ND, not detected;

^*Differs significantly from mean in high α-LNA (n-3 PUFA adequate) diet rats; ^#net rate for brain phospholipids

^a38;

^b21;

^c39;

^d46;

^e42;

^f71