Dihydrosterculic acid from cottonseed oil suppresses desaturase activity and improves liver metabolomic profiles of high-fat-fed mice

Authors: PATON, CHAD - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA; VAUGHAN, ROGER - TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY; ALPERGIN, ERBU - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN; ASSADI-PORTER, FARIBA - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN; DOWD, MICHAEL

Submitted to: Nutrition Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/27/2017
Publication Date: 9/1/2017
Citation: Paton, C.M., Vaughan, R.A., Alpergin, E.S.S., Assadi-Porter, F., Dowd, M.K. 2017. Dihydrosterculic acid from cottonseed oil suppresses desaturase activity and improves liver metabolomic profiles of high-fat-fed mice. Nutrition Research. 45:52-62.

Interpretive Summary: This study compares the metabolic changes that occur in mice when feed different high fat diets. Mice fed a diet high in cottonseed oil displayed differences from mice fed a high fat diet rich in saturated fatty acids and mice fed a high fat diet rich in linoleic acid (a polyunsaturated fatty acid). Analysis of a panel of biochemiscal factors revealed that the metabolism of the cottonseed-fed mice closely matched the metabolism of mice fed the control (low fat) diet, but differed from the metabolism of the mice fed the other high fat diets. The effects appeared to be associated with small amount of an unusual fatty acid in the cottonseed oil. The results will be of interest to nutritionists and researchers working on obesity issues.

Technical Abstract: Consuming a high polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) diet has been shown to cause accumulation of PUFA in skeletal muscle. We have found that increasing the PUFA content in skeletal muscle of mice was associated with increased PPARd expression and activity and we sought to examine the effect of different PUFA-enriched oils on muscle PPARd expression. One of the oils we tested was cottonseed oil (CSO) which is primarily linoleic acid (53%) and palmitic acid (28%). To our surprise, mice fed a CSO-enriched diet (50% Kcals from fat) displayed no change in muscle PPARd expression, however in the liver, it was consistently elevated. Male mice were fed either chow, CSO, saturated fat (SFA), or linoleic acid (18:2) enriched diets that were matched for macronutrient content for 4-weeks. There were no differences in food intake, body weights, fasting glucose, glucose tolerance, or energy expenditure between chow and CSO-fed mice whereas SFA-fed mice were fatter and 18:2-fed were less glucose tolerant. Metabolomic analyses revealed that the livers of CSO-fed mice closely matched those of chow-fed and significantly differed from SFA- and 18:2-enriched groups. Fatty acid composition of the diets and livers revealed an impairment in desaturase activity and an increase in the cyclopropyl fatty acid, dihydrosterculic acid (DHSA) of CSO-fed mice. The effect of DHSA on PPARd and SCD1 expression mimicked that of the CSO-fed mice. Taken together, these data suggest that DHSA from CSO may be an effective means to increase PPARd expression with concomitant suppression of liver SCD1 activity.