Table 2. Calculated brain and liver conversion parameters in unanesthetized rats fed different diets.

Row 1: dietary composition. Row 2: conversion coefficients of plasma α-LNA to DHA in brain, calculated by Eq. 5. Row 3: net conversion rate of α-LNA to DHA, in units of nmol/s/g × 10⁻⁴. Row 4: net conversion rate for 1.5 g brain, in units of μmol/day. Row 5: conversion coefficients of plasma α-LNA to DHA in brain, calculated by Eq. 5. Row 6: net liver conversion rate of α-LNA to DHA, in units of nmol/s/g × 10⁻⁴, calculated by Eq. 6. Row 7: net DHA secretion rate for 11.5 g liver, in units of μmol/day., calculated by Eq. 7.

			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)
BRAIN
2	Conversion coefficients brain, $k_{i(a-\mathit{LNA}\to \mathit{DHA})}^{\ast }$ (i = PL, TG)	ml/s/g × 10−4	0.0055, 0.00040	0.0063, 0.00077	0.0051, 0.00089
3	Net DHA conversion rate per g brain, Jin,i(α–LNA→DHA)i	nmol/s/g × 10−4	0.24	0.19	0.007
4	Net daily DHA formation rate from α-LNA by 1.5 g brain##	μmol/day	0.002	0.0016	0.0000006
LIVER
5	Conversion coefficients liver, (i = PL, TG), $k_{i(a-\mathit{LNA}\to \mathit{DHA})}^{\ast }$	ml/s/g × 10−4	0.03, 0.1	0.053, 0.219	0.44, 1.45
6	Net DHA conversion rate per g liver Jin,i(α–LNA→DHA)i	nmol/s/g × 10−4	6.6	7.45	1.99
7	Net daily DHA secretion rate, per 11.5 g rat liver#	μmol/day	1.57	2.19	0.82

PL, phospholipid; TG, triacylglycerol;

^#Calculated by Eq. 7 with λ_α-LNA-CoA equal to 0.47, 0.34 and 0.24 for high DHA, 4.6% α-LNA, 0.2% α-LNA diet, respectively, for liver.

From ²¹, ⁵⁴, ⁷²