Dietary monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids are comparable in their effects on hepatic apolipoprotein mRNA abundance and liver lipid concentrations when substituted for saturated fatty acids in cynomolgus monkeys.

Although studies have shown that saturated and polyunsaturated fats can mediate plasma lipid and apolipoprotein (apo) concentrations at the mRNA level, there is little data on the role of monounsaturated fats. We determined hepatic lipid and apo mRNA levels in 10 cynomolgus monkeys fed three diets that provided 30% of energy as fat with 0.1% cholesterol by weight and differed solely by the substitution of saturated, mono- and polyunsaturated fats as 60% of total fat energy. Total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol, as well as LDL apo B, HDL apo A-I and HDL total apo C concentrations, were reduced with the mono- and polyunsaturated fat diets relative to the saturated fat diet. Although fat saturation did not significantly affect hepatic apo A-I, B, C-II, or E mRNA abundance, hepatic apo C-III mRNA concentrations were uniformly lower (-23%, P < 0.01) with the mono- and polyunsaturated fat diets than with the saturated fat diet. Interestingly, liver triglycerides were significantly elevated with the monounsaturated fat diet relative to the saturated fat diet, but no other differences in hepatic lipids were noted among diets. Hepatic triglyceride composition was shown to reflect dietary fatty acid composition, with liver triglycerides enriched in myristic and palmitic fatty acids during the saturated fat diet, oleic acid during the monounsaturated fat diet and linoleic acid during the polyunsaturated fat diet. We conclude that dietary monounsaturated fats are comparable to polyunsaturated fats in their effects on hepatic lipid and apo mRNA levels in this species, with both unsaturated fats significantly reducing only hepatic apo C-III mRNA abundance relative to saturated fat.