Effect of dietary saturated fatty acids on hormone-sensitive lipolysis in rat adipocytes

The objective of this work was to examine the mechanism by which dietary saturated fatty acids, as compared with polyunsaturated fatty acids, lower hormone-sensitive lipolysis in rat adipocytes. Rats were fed a purified diet containing 14% of a fat with a high concentration of either saturated fatty acids (coconut oil or beef fat) or polyunsaturated fatty acids (safflower oil) as a control. In addition, each diet contained 2% corn oil. The animals were fed these diets for 4 wk. Norepinephrine-stimulated lipolysis was 50% lower when diets rich in saturated fatty acids, regardless of their chain length, were fed than when a diet containing a high concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids was fed. The specific activities of adenylate cyclase, 3',5'-cyclic nucleotide (cAMP) phosphodiesterase and hormone-sensitive lipase were lower when saturated fatty acids were fed than when polyunsaturated fatty acids were fed. Accumulation of cAMP upon stimulation with 10(-5) M norepinephrine was lower when saturated fatty acids were fed than when polyunsaturated fatty acids were fed. Moreover, adipocytes were larger when saturated fatty acids were fed than when polyunsaturated fatty acids were fed. The data obtained suggest that dietary saturated fats exert their inhibitory effect on hormone-stimulated lipolysis by influencing several points in the lipolytic cascade.