Effect of diet on the fatty acid and molecular species composition of dog retina phospholipids

Abstract Dogs were born to mothers fed commercial diets low or enriched in n‐3 fatty acids and raised on those diets until they were about 50 d old. Retinas were removed, lipids were extracted, and total phospholipids were anlyzed for fatty acid and molecular species composition. Animals from the low n‐3 group had significantly lower retinal levels of 22∶6n‐3 and higher levels of n‐6 fatty acids, especially 20∶4n‐6 and 22∶5n‐6. There was no difference in the retinal levels of 18∶2n‐6, and only small differences were found in saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. The most dramatic differences in molecular species occurred in 22∶6n‐3‐22∶6n‐3 (4.7 vs. 0.8%) and 18∶0‐22∶6n‐3 (27.6 vs. 14.4%); total molecular species containing 22∶6n‐3 were significantly lower in the low n‐3 group (45.5 vs. 24.0%). Molecular species containing 20∶4n‐6 and 22∶5n‐6 were greater in the low n‐3 animals (13.0 vs. 25.7%), as were molecular species containing only saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (40.8 vs. 35.4%). These results show that modest differences in the amount of n‐3 fatty acids in the diets of dogs can have profound effects on the fatty acid and molecular species composition of their retinas.