[Short term comparative study of effects of n-9 trans-docosenoic (brassidic) acid and n-9, cis-docosenoic (erucic) acid on the cardiac lipids of weanling rats].

Cardiac lipids (triglycerides and phospholipids) of weanling rats fed diets containing 15% by weight of rapeseed oil (RSO), hydrogenated rapeseed oil (HRSO), trierucin (TE) or tribassidin (TB) were analyzed after 3 and 7 days of feeding. The amount of C22:1 was made equal in the 4 diets. Trans-isomers of erucic acid found in HRSO and TB do not cause as high an accumulation of lipids and docosenoic acids in the heart as erucic acid. Digestibility of brassidic acid (46%) is lower than that or erucic acid (83%) but even then, the amount of brassidic acid found in cardiac lipids (calculated per gram of absorbed fatty acid) after 7 days of feeding is 10 times less than that of erucic acid. Brassidic acid, like erucic acid, can be converted into shorter monoenes (C20:1 and C18:1) since transC18:1 has been found in cardiac phospholipids of rats fed trans-docosenoic acid as the only source of trans-acid in the diet.