Dietary supplementation with ether-linked lipids and tissue lipid composition

The goal of this investigation was to determine the effect of an alkylglycerol dietary supplement on the lipid composition of several major organs. Lipids from kidney, liver, and lung tissues of rats on a laboratory chow diet (controls) were compared to lipids from the same tissues of rats that had received oral supplements (300-600 mg/day) of 1-O-alkyl-2,3-diacetyl-sn-glycerol (alkyl groups were 65% 18:1 and 17% 16:1) for six days. Incorporation of the alkylglycerol into tissue lipids was indicated by both the presence of a neutral lipid in liver that had the same chromatographic migration as alkyldiacylglycerols and by a substantial increase (approximately 150% of controls) in the octadecenyl group of the alk-1-enyl- and alkyl-glycerol side chains derived from total phospholipids of all three tissues. Compared to controls, there was a significant increase in the amount of alkylacylglycerophosphocholine in all three tissues of the alkylglycerol supplemented group. Total lipids, total phospholipid phosphorus, or the distribution of phospholipid classes (except for small differences in lung tissue) were not affected by the dietary supplement. The increase in ether lipids was offset by a corresponding decrease in the diacyl subclass in tissues from animals on the alkyldiacetylglycerol supplement. Our results indicate that the amount of ether-linked glycerolipids in rat tissues can be easily increased with dietary supplements of alkylglycerols.