Nutritional and environmental regulation of the synthesis of highly unsaturated fatty acids and of fatty-acid oxidation in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) enterocytes and hepatocytes

Abstract

The aim was to determine if highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) synthesis and fatty acid oxidation in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) intestine was under environmental and/or seasonal regulation. Triplicate groups of salmon were grown through a full two-year cycle on two diets containing either fish oil (FO), or a diet with 75% of the FO replaced by a vegetable oil (VO) blend containing rapeseed, palm and linseed oils. At key points in the life cycle, fatty acyl desaturation/elongation (HUFA synthesis) and oxidation activities were determined in enterocytes and hepatocytes using [1-14C]18:3n-3 as substrate. As observed previously, HUFA synthesis in hepatocytes showed peak activity at seawater transfer and declined thereafter, with activity consistently greater in fish fed the VO diet. In fish fed FO, HUFA synthesis in enterocytes in the freshwater stage was at a similar level to that in hepatocytes. However, HUFA synthesis in enterocytes increased rapidly after seawater transfer and remained high for some months after transfer before decreasing to levels that were again similar to those observed in hepatocytes. Generally, enterocyte HUFA synthesis was higher in fish fed the VO diet compared to the FO diet. Oxidation of [1-14C]18:3n-3 in hepatocytes from fish fed FO tended to decrease during the freshwater phase but then increased steeply, peaking just after transfer before decreasing during the remaining seawater phase. At the peak in oxidation activity around seawater transfer, activity was significantly lower in fish fed VO compared to fish fed FO. In enterocytes, oxidation of [1-14C]18:3 in fish fed FO showed a peak in activity just prior to seawater transfer. In fish fed VO, other than high activity at 9 months, the pattern was similar to that obtained in enterocytes from fish fed FO with a high activity around seawater transfer and declining activity in seawater. In conclusion, fatty acid metabolism in intestinal cells appeared to be under dual nutritional and environmental or seasonal regulation. The temporal patterns for fatty acid oxidation were generally similar in the two cell types, but HUFA synthesis in enterocytes peaked over the summer seawater phase rather than at transfer, as with hepatocytes, suggesting possibly different regulatory cues.