Conversion of dietary trans-vaccenic acid to trans11,cis13-conjugated linoleic acid in the rat lactating mammary gland by Fatty Acid Desaturase 3-catalyzed methyl-end Δ13-desaturation

In vitro, the rat Fatty Acid Desaturase 3 (FADS3) gene was shown to code for an enzyme able to catalyze the unexpected Δ13-desaturation of trans-vaccenic acid, producing the trans11,cis13-conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomer. FADS3 may therefore be the first methyl-end trans-vaccenate Δ13-desaturase functionally characterized in mammals, but the proof of this concept is so far lacking in vivo. The present study therefore aimed at investigating further the putative in vivo synthesis of trans11,cis13-CLA from dietary trans-vaccenic acid in rodents. During one week of pregnancy and two weeks post-partum, Sprague-Dawley female rats were fed two diets either high (10.0% of fatty acids and 3.8% of energy intake) or low (0.4% of fatty acids and 0.2% of energy intake) in trans-vaccenic acid. The trans11,cis13-CLA was specifically detected, formally identified and reproducibly quantified (0.06% of total fatty acids) in the mammary gland phospholipids of lactating female rats fed the high trans-vaccenic acid-enriched diet. This result was consistent with FADS3 mRNA expression being significantly higher in the lactating mammary gland than in the liver. Although the apparent metabolic conversion is low, this physiological evidence demonstrates the existence of this new pathway described in the lactating mammary gland and establishes the FADS3 enzyme as a reliable mammalian trans-vaccenate Δ13-desaturase in vivo.