Heart lipidosis induced by short-term feeding of cis- or trans-docosenoic acids in weanling or 7-week-old rats

Weanling male rats were fed calcium-deprived diets containing 15% lipids, of which half is cis- or trans-docosenoic acid, for 5, 12 or 28 days. Elaidic or oleic acid-fed rats served as controls. After 5 days on diet, the rats fed brassidic acid showed heart triglyceride accumulation, but less than the erucic acid-fed rats. In both groups, the heart triglyceride content decreased with time and returned to normal values after 28 days. When similar diets were fed for 12 days to 7-week-old rats, brassidic acid, on the contrary, induced a greater triglyceride accumulation than erucic acid did.