STUDIES ON ESSENTIAL FATTY ACID DEFICIENCY. EFFECT OF THE DEFICIENCY ON THE LIPIDS IN LIVER MITOCHONDRIA AND OXIDATIVE PHOSPHORYLATION

Abstract

Dietary deficiency of essential fatty acids results in a 2-fold increase in the neutral lipid content of liver mitochondria as compared with the corresponding value for stock-fed rats. Deficiency produces changes in the pattern of the constituent fatty acids of the main phospholipid fractions of liver mitochondria which are similar to those previously reported for the lipids of whole liver. There is a fall in the content of C18:2 acid and to a smaller extent of C20:4 acid associated with a rise of C16:1, C18:1 and C20:3 acids. Deficiency results in small decreases in the phosphorylation quotients of liver mitochondria during oxidation of succinate and pyruvate, but the values lie within the range reported for normal mitochondria. Mitochondrial respiration with succinate is decreased as a result of deficiency, but no change was observed with pyruvate as substrate.