Koskelo E K, Boswell K, Carl L, Lanoue S, Kelly C, Kyle D
Martek Biosciences Corporation, Columbia, Maryland 21045, USA.
Lipids. 1997 Apr;32(4):397-405. doi: 10.1007/s11745-997-0051-y.
Arachidonic acid (AA), an n-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA), serves an important role in the body as a structural fatty acid of many tissues including neurological tissues. It is also a precursor of the n-6 class of eicosanoids and is the most abundant n-6 LC-PUFA found in human breast milk. We have optimized the production of a microfungal source of a triglyceride oil (ARASCO) which is enriched in AA to about 40% by weight. To establish the safety of this oil as a food, we evaluated the effect of ARASCO in Sprague-Dawley rats (20/sex/group) gavaged at dose levels of 1.0 and 2.5 g/kg/d for a period of 90 d, paying special attention to any potential neurotoxicity of the oil. Two groups of control animals received either untreated standard laboratory diet (untreated control) or the same diet and vehicle oil at the same dose volume administered to the treated animals (vehicle control). Physical observations, ophthalmoscopic examinations, body weight, food consumption, clinical chemistry, hematology parameters, neurobehavioral assessments, and macroscopic as well as microscopic postmortem evaluations were performed. Tissue fatty acid analyses indicated that the AA levels in the brain, heart, and liver of the high-dose ARASCO-fed animals increased by 8, 59, and 76%, respectively, indicating that the AA in the oil was readily incorporated into tissue lipids. In spite of this high elevation in tissue AA levels, no developmental, histopathological, or neuropathological differences were seen in the animals administered ARASCO compared with the vehicle control animals. Being highly enriched in AA, ARASCO offers the means to study the effect of this fatty acid in experimental settings and in human metabolic studies.
花生四烯酸（AA）是一种n-6长链多不饱和脂肪酸（LC-PUFA），作为包括神经组织在内的许多组织的结构脂肪酸，在人体中发挥着重要作用。它也是n-6类二十碳烷酸的前体，并且是人类母乳中含量最丰富的n-6 LC-PUFA。我们已经优化了一种富含AA的甘油三酯油（ARASCO）的微真菌来源的生产，其AA含量按重量计约为40%。为了确定这种油作为食品的安全性，我们评估了ARASCO对Sprague-Dawley大鼠（每组雌雄各20只）的影响，大鼠以1.0和2.5 g/kg/d的剂量水平灌胃90天，特别关注该油的任何潜在神经毒性。两组对照动物分别接受未处理的标准实验室饮食（未处理对照）或与处理动物相同剂量体积的相同饮食和赋形剂油（赋形剂对照）。进行了身体观察、眼科检查、体重、食物消耗、临床化学、血液学参数、神经行为评估以及大体和显微镜下的死后评估。组织脂肪酸分析表明，高剂量ARASCO喂养的动物的大脑、心脏和肝脏中的AA水平分别增加了8%、59%和76%，这表明该油中的AA很容易融入组织脂质中。尽管组织中AA水平有如此高幅度的升高，但与赋形剂对照动物相比，给予ARASCO的动物在发育、组织病理学或神经病理学方面没有差异。由于ARASCO高度富含AA，它为研究这种脂肪酸在实验环境和人类代谢研究中的作用提供了手段。
