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Fatty Acid Synthesis in Testes of Fat-deficient and Fat-supplemented Rats¹

Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37232

Fatty acid synthesis was studied in testes of rats fed a fat-free or fat-supplemented diet. Testes of fat-deficient rats incorporated nearly twice as much intratesticularly injected [1-¹⁴C]acetate into total fatty acids (primarily into palmitic acid) as did supplemented rats. To determine the mechanism for the increased synthesis, the activities of the following enzymes were determined in the cytoplasmic fraction of testicular homogenates: fatty acid synthetase, acetyl CoA carboxylase [EC 6.4.1.2], citrate-cleavage [EC 4.1.3.8], malic [EC 1.1.1.38], and the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase [EC 1.1.1.49]: 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase pair [EC 1.1.1.44]. Although the activity of fatty acid synthetase did increase in livers from fat-deficient rats, no change was observed in corresponding testes. No difference between the two groups could be demonstrated in testicular activity of citrate-cleavage enzyme, malic enzyme, or the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase:6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase pair. However, the activity of cytoplasmic acetyl CoA carboxylase in testes of rats fed the fat-deficient diet was 1.4 times higher than the activity in testes of rats fed the supplemented diet. Fat deficiency did not affect the specific activity of the testicular microsomal elongation system, assayed by incubation with ¹⁴C-malonyl CoA. The concentration of unesterified fatty acids was lower in testes of the fat-deficient compared to supplemented rats, indicating that decreased inhibition of acetyl CoA carboxylase in the fat-deficient rat testes might have been responsible for the observed increased de novo synthesis of palmitic acid.

KEY WORDS: • fat-deficiency • fatty acid synthesis • testicular tissue • lipogenesis • liver

¹ This study was supported by USPHS Grants HD 07694 and 5T01AM05441.

² Present address: Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University. Nashville, Tennessee 37232.

Manuscript received 9 February 1976.