QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bach, A. Articles by Bauer, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bach, A. Articles by Bauer, M.

Ketogenic Response to Medium-Chain Triglyceride Load in the Rat¹

Laboratoire de la Clinique Médicale A, Hôpital Civil 67005 Strasbourg-Cedex, France

We studied ketonemia induced in rats by a single oral load of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) (C_8:0 50.5%, C_10:0 48.0%, C_12:0 1.0%). Medium-chain fatty acids, rather than being incorporated into the lipids synthesized by the liver, are oxidized there, with high production of ketone bodies. Severe and long-lasting hyperketonemia developed rapidly. With increased MCT loads, ketonemia also increased, although not linearly. The level of the hyperketonemia seemed equal in the two sexes. Ingestion of MCT by fasting rats caused an additional rise in ketonemia. Long-chain triglycerides were not ketogenic, since their constituent fatty acids are incorporated into lipids and are thus less subject to oxidation. Lipids induce less severe ketonemia in genetically obese rats than in normal-weight rats.

KEY WORDS: • Medium-chain triglycerides • long-chain triglycerides • ketone bodies • triglycerides • non-esterified fatty acids • genetically obese Zucker rats

¹ This work was partially supported by the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (contract N^o 76.1.077.7).

Manuscript received 29 March 1977.