Long-term effects of high-fat diets on peroxisomal beta-oxidation in male and female rats.

In weanling male rats a 4-fold increase of heart triacylglycerols was observed after three days on a high-fat diet containing partially hydrogenated fish oil (PHFO). In female rats this increase was only about 50%. No significant differences were observed between female and male rats in the fatty acid composition of the accumulated lipids. The initial level of peroxisomal beta-oxidation activity was similar in male and female rats in both liver and heart. After three weeks of receiving high-fat diets, the rats showed a marked increase in peroxisomal beta-oxidation activity with PHFO in the diet and less with soybean oil (SO), confirming previous studies with male rats. Catalase activity was similarly affected in hearts of both sexes. In male rats the levels of peroxisomal beta-oxidation observed after three weeks of feeding on the high-fat diets were found to be maintained, both in liver and heart, during a feeding period of three months. The response to high-fat diets in females, however, seems to be further accentuated after three months of feeding, resulting in a capacity of peroxisomal beta-oxidation in liver of about three times that of the male rats when calculated on a total body-weight basis.