[Adaptation to a rapeseed oil enriched diet as shown by the mitochondrial oxidation rate in the heart (author's transl)].

Abstract

40 wistar rats were divided into two groups which had been fed one year earlier a diet in which 30% of the caloric intake consisted of rapeseed oil and peanut oil respectively. Both groups were then fed a diet of 30% peanut oil for five months and then fed a normal diet for seven months. At this time each of the two main groups was subdivided into four smaller groups, each group receiving a different diet: one of 25% rapeseed oil, one of 25% peanut oil, one of 25% butter, and one internal control group. At the end of the experiment the rats were sacrificed by decapitation. One portion of each heart was used for measuring its fatty acid content and the remaining portion was used for preparing sarcosomes on which the exigen consumption was measured polarographically. It was found that no erucic acid was present in the hearts of the rats fed rapeseed oil one year previously, and then then refed the same diet in the present experiment. The mitochondrial respiratory activity of the treated rats did not show any significant difference with respect to the found in the control groups, unlike the first experiment.