Effects of high erucic acid rapeseed oil on fatty acid oxidation in rat liver.

The effects of high erucic acid rapeseed oil (HER) on fatty acid oxidation in rat liver compared with low erucic acid rapeseed oil (LER) were studied. Weanling male SD rats were fed diets containing 20% HER or LER for 1 week or 4 weeks, or 5% HER diet for 4 weeks. The hepatic oxidation capacity of butyric acid or palmitic acid was determined by titrating the propanone produced by their oxidation. The results showed that feeding HER to rats led to an increase in the weight of liver and a decrease in the hepatic oxidation capacity of palmitic acid. Hepatic oxidation of butyric acid was not influenced by the intake of HER. The inhibitory action of HER on the oxidation of long-chain fatty acids probably resulted from the incorporation of erucic acid into mitochondrial membranes, interfering the fatty acyl-CoA transferring system on the membranes, but not from the beta-oxidation enzyme system in mitochondria being directly inhibited.