The effect of dietary copper on the structure and physical properties of adipose tissue triglycerides in pigs

Abstract

The inner back fat of control pigs had a higher melting point and stearic acid-oleic acid ratio than did the outer back fat of the control animals or the inner and outer back fats of pigs given the control diet supplemented with 250 ppm copper. By a combination of argentation thin layer chromatography and pancreatic lipase hydrolysis, it was shown that in the inner back fat of the control animals the proportions of two of the more saturated glyceride species were significantly greater and the proportions of two of the more unsaturated species were less than in the outer back fat of the control animals and in the inner and outer back fats of the copper-fed animals. These findings probably account for the observed differences in melting point. Stereospecific analyses of the glycerides demonstrated that the increased content of stearic acid in the inner back fat of the control pigs was distributed between the 1 and 3 positions.