The use of essential fatty acid deficient rats to study pathophysiological roles of prostaglandins. Comparison of prostaglandin production with some parameters of deficiency

Abstract

In a retrospective study on essential fatty acid deficient, (EFAD) rats used to study pathophysiological roles of prostaglandins (PGs) slight increases in the linoleic acid content of the diet were found to gradually restore the depressed growth rate and to increase the reduced endogenous PG production. These apparently poorly deficient animals had a serum triene tetraene (ω9:ω6) ratio much higher than the value of 0.4 used as a criterion for EFA deficiency by nutritionists. Changes in body weight, serum ω9∶ω6 and platelet PG production were not correlated with each other. Feeding rats on a diet containing indicator of the degree of EFA deficiency required for studies of PG deprivation, but PG production by the tissue investigated or by plalets should preferentially be measured.