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Dynamics of blood chylomicron fatty acids in a marine carnivore: implications for lipid metabolism and quantitative estimation of predator diets

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Abstract

Blubber fatty acid(s) (FA) signatures can provide accurate estimates of predator diets using quantitative FA signature analysis, provided that aspects of predator FA metabolism are taken into account. Because the intestinal absorption of dietary FA and their incorporation into chylomicrons (the primary transport lipoproteins for dietary FA in the blood) may influence the relationship between FA composition in the diet and adipose tissue, we investigated the metabolism of individual FA at these early stages of assimilation. We also investigated the capacity of chylomicron signatures to provide quantitative estimates of prey composition of an experimental meal. Six captive juvenile grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) were fed either 2.3 kg (n=3) or 4.6 kg (n=3) of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus). Although chylomicron FA signatures resembled diet signatures at all samplings, absolute differences were smallest at 3-h post-feeding, when chylomicrons were likely largest and had the greatest ratio of triacylglycerol to phospholipid FA. Specific FA that differed significantly between diet and chylomicron signatures reflected either input from endogenous sources or loss through peroxisomal β-oxidation. When these aspects of metabolism were accounted for, the quantitative predictions of diet composition generated using chylomicron signatures were extremely accurate, even when tested against 28 other prey items.

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Abbreviations

FA:

Fatty acid(s)

FAME:

Fatty acid methyl ester(s)

K-L:

Kulback-Leibler

MUFA:

Monounsaturated fatty acid(s)

PL:

Phospholipid(s)

PUFA:

Polyunsaturated fatty acid(s)

QFASA:

Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis

SFA:

Saturated fatty acid(s)

TAG:

Triacylglycerol(s)

VLDL:

Very low-density lipoproteins

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Parsens and J. Eddington for help with the captive animal maintenance and blood sampling and W. Blanchard for assistance with statistical modelling. We thank W.D. Bowen for assistance with the initial planning of the study. We thank W.D. Bowen, S.M. Budge, H.W. Cook, G. Herzberg, S.L.C. Lang, and the three anonymous reviewers for very helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. This study was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canada, Strategic Grant (No. STRO133825) and NSERC Research and Equipment Grants to S.J.I. This experiment was approved by the Dalhousie University Committee on Laboratory Animals.

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  1. Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4J1, Canada

    Margaret H. Cooper & Sara J. Iverson

  2. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata (INIBIOLP), CONCET-UNLP, Fac. Medicina, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina

    Horacio Heras

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  1. Margaret H. Cooper
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  3. Horacio Heras
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Correspondence to Margaret H. Cooper.

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Cooper, M.H., Iverson, S.J. & Heras, H. Dynamics of blood chylomicron fatty acids in a marine carnivore: implications for lipid metabolism and quantitative estimation of predator diets. J Comp Physiol B 175, 133–145 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-004-0469-6

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