Maternal Dietary Fat and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in the Developing Foetal Rat Brain

Female rats were fed pursed diets containing 10% safflower oil, which is high in linoleic acid, from approximately 2 weeks prior to mating until the 14th day of gestation. They were then fed purified diets containing safflower oil, soybean oil (containing linoleic and linolenic acids), or hydrogenated coconut oil (essential fatty acid deficient). On days 16, 18, and 21 of gestation, foetuses were removed by caesarean section and the brains were subjected to fatty acid analysis. By day 16 of gestation, the ethanolamine glycerophospholipids and combined serine‐inositol glycerophospholipids were rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly arachidonic acid. Between days 16 and 21 of gestation, there was a marked increase in the C 22 ‐polyunsaturated acids in these glycerophospholipids, with 225n‐6 deposited in foetuses from dams fed safflower or coconut oils and 22:6n‐3 deposition occurring in the soybean oil group; the effects of essential fatty acid deficiency in this period were minimal. A similar pattern was evident in the choline glycerophospholipids but this fraction contained less of the polyunsaturated acids. The data are consistent with increased placental transfer of highly unsaturated fatty acids or increased foetal synthesis of these compounds during the last week of gestation, with the actual fatty acid pattern reflecting the dietary fat available to the dam.