Effects of essential fatty acid deficiency on rat adrenal composition and secretory activity

¹ Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts

The effect of feeding diets deficient in essential fatty acids on the composition of adrenal lipids and on the secretory activity of adrenocortical hormones was studied. Rats which were fed diets devoid of fat had lower levels of tetraenoic and pentaenoic acids and higher levels of trienoic acids in both the total lipid and cholesterol ester fraction than did rats receiving a supplement of corn oil. There was a greater accumulation of cholesterol esterified with saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids in the adrenals of the rats fed essential fatty acid-deficient diets. The adrenals of the essential fatty acid-deficient rats secreted smaller quantities of steroid hormones in vitro under the stimulation of ACTH.