AsianScientist (Mar. 9, 2017) – A study in pigs has found that consuming long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) in the mornings might be more beneficial for preventing metabolic disease than at other times of the day. These findings, by researchers at the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture (ISA) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have been published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.
LCPUFA such as omega 3 (docosahexaenoic acid or DHA) poly a critical role in preventing the metabolic syndromes such as obesity, insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease. The levels of circulating fatty acids and lipid metabolism are known to vary over the course of the day. However, daily variations in the levels of LCPUFA in the plasma and expression rhythms of genes involved in their de novo synthesis in liver are not known.
In the present study, researchers investigated the daily pattern of LCPUFA levels and the expression of genes related to de novo synthesis of LCPUFA in a pig model. The researchers collected blood and liver samples at six different times of the day, at 3am, 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm and 11pm.
The researchers found that LCPUFA contents in plasma and liver both exhibited diurnal rhythms and they were higher at night than in the day. In addition, daily variations were also observed in gene expression of FASD1 (Delta 5-desaturase), FASD2 (Delta 6-desaturase), ELOVL5 (fatty acid elongase 5) and ELOVL2 in liver. Unexpectedly, these four genes encode the key enzymes involved in de novo synthesis of LCPUFA also exhibited high expression at night.
Moreover, they also noticed a similarity between the diurnal rhythms of these four genes and the circadian gene Period 2, which indicated that de novo synthesis of LCPUFA might be regulated by Period 2.
“Our findings suggested that an intake of LCPUFA in the morning, when they are relatively lower in plasma and liver during the day, might be more helpful for the prevention of the development of metabolic syndromes,” said Zhou Xihong, an assistant researcher at ISA.
The article can be found at: Zhou et al. (2017) Diurnal Variations in Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Contents and Expression of Genes Involved in Their De Novo Synthesis in Pigs.
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Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences; Photo: Shutterstock.
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