Influence of dietary linseed oil and sunflower seed oil on some mechanical and metabolic parameters of isolated working rat hearts.

The role played by membrane lipid environment on cardiac function remains poorly defined. The polyunsaturated fatty acid profile of myocardial phospholipids could be of utmost importance in the regulation of key-enzyme activities. This study was undertaken to determine whether selective incorporation of n-6 or n-3 fatty acids in membrane phospholipids might influence cardiac mechanical performances and metabolism. For 8 wk, male weaning Wistar rats were fed a semi-purified diet containing either 10% sunflower seed oil (72% C18:2 n-6) or 10% linseed oil (54% C18:3 n-3) as the sole source of lipids. The hearts were then removed and perfused according to working mode with a Krebs-Henseleit buffer containing glucose (11 mM) and insulin (10 Ul/l). Cardiac rate, coronary and aortic flows and ejection fraction were monitored after 30 min of perfusion. Myocardial metabolism was estimated by evaluating the intracellular fate of 1-14C palmitate. Sunflower seed oil and linseed oil feeding did not modify either coronary or aortic flow, which suggests that cardiac mechanical work was not affected by the diets. Conversely, cardiac rate was significantly decreased (-18%; P less than 0.01) when rats were fed the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid rich diet. Radioanalysis of the myocardial metabolism suggested that replacing n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids by n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids: i) did not alter palmitate uptake; ii) prolonged palmitate incorporation into cardiac triglycerides; iii) reduced beta-oxidation of palmitic acid. These results support the assumption that dietary fatty acids, particularly n-6 and n-3 fatty acids, play an important role in the regulation of cardiac mechanical and metabolic activity.