Incorporation and metabolism of 14C-labelled polyunsaturated fatty acids in juvenile gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata L. in vivo

The incorporation, and the capacity for desaturation and elongation in vivo, of intraperitoneally-injected, ¹⁴C-labelled n–3 and n–6 C₁₈ and C₂₀ PUFAs were investigated in juvenile gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata. The results indicate that juvenile gilthead sea bream have only limited ability to convert CH PUFAs to C₂₀ and C₂₂ HUFAs in vivo. The data are consistent with the results from nutritional studies on larvae, postlarvae and fingerlings that have shown that gilthead sea bream require the provision of preformed eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids in the diet. The impairment in the desaturase/elongase pathway was quantitatively and qualitatively similar to that found in turbot, Scophthalmus maximus, being at the level of the 5-desaturase. The low activity of 5-desaturase combined with the consistent finding that arachidonic acid is selectively retained in membrane phosphatidylinositol suggests that, in addition to eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, gilthead sea bream may also have a requirement for preformed arachidonic acid in the diet.Abbreviations AA 5,8,11,14-eicosapenaenoic acid (arachidonic acid, 20:4n–6) - CPL diradyl (diacyl + alkenylacyl + alkylacyl) glycerophosphocholine - DHA 4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n–3) - EPA 5,8,11,14,17-eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n–3) - EPL diradyl (diacyl, alkenylacyl + alkylacyl) glycerophosphoethanolamine - HUFA highly unsaturated fatty acids ( C₂₀ and with 3 double bonds) - LA 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (linoleic acid, 18:2n–6) - LNA 9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid (-linolenic acid, 18:3n–3) - PI phosphatidylinositol - PS phosphatidylserine - PUFA polyunsaturated fatty acid(s)