Dietary sandalwood seed oil modifies fatty acid composition of mouse adipose tissue, brain, and liver.

Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) seed oil, which occurs to about 50% of the weight of the seed kernels, contains 30-35% of total fatty acids (FA) as ximenynic acid (XMYA). This study was designed to obtain basic information on changes in tissue FA composition and on the metabolic fate of XMYA in mice fed a sandalwood seed oil (SWSO)-enriched diet. Female mice were randomly divided into three groups, each receiving different semisynthetic diets containing 5.2% (w/w) fat (standard laboratory diet), 15% canola oil, or 15% SWSO for 8 wk. The effects of SWSO as a dietary fat on the FA composition of adipose tissue, brain, and liver lipids were determined by analyses of FA methyl ester derivatives of extracted total lipid. The FA compositions of the liver and adipose tissue were markedly altered by the dietary fats, and mice fed on a SWSO-enriched diet were found to contain XMYA but only in low concentration (0.3-3%) in these tissues; XMYA was not detected in brain. Oleic acid was suggested to be a principal XMYA biotransformation product. The results were interpreted to suggest that the metabolism of XMYA may involve both biohydrogenation and oxidation reactions.