Microbial incubations of 8-phenyloctanoic acid and furan fatty acids in rumen fluid

The digestive tract of ruminants is specialized in the digestion of various plant components. One of the largest parts of the stomach is the so-called rumen, which contains a large number of micro-organisms that may degrade or modify fatty acids, for example by β-oxidation, chain elongation and/or hydrogenation.

Here we performed incubation experiments with less common fatty acids by in vitro incubations with rumen fluid of fistulated cows for 24 h. Sample extracts were analysed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. As substrates, we selected one phenyl fatty acid and four furan fatty acids (FuFAs). All studied fatty acids were degraded by β-oxidation (two or three chain-shortening steps) while chain elongation or saturation of the aromatic part (terminal phenyl or central furan moiety) was not observed in any case.

The percentage of β-oxidation products was low, especially in the case of the FuFAs. This could be due to the rather long carbon number of FuFAs (19-22 carbon atoms). In addition, compound-specific differences in the degradation rates were observed in our experiments.

Our results produce evidence that FuFAs, which are valuable antioxidants that are known to be present in various feed items of the cow, can be effectively passed on the rumen into the milk.