Effects of dietary supplementation with algae, sunflower oil, or soybean oil, and age on fat content, fatty acid profile and the expression of related genes in rabbits

The aim of this study was determine the effect of different dietary supplements (algae, sunflower oil, or soybean oil) and age (12 and 18 weeks) on the fat content, fatty acid (FA) profile, and expression of the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) and fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) genes in rabbit muscle. Rabbits (n = 160) were randomly divided into four groups. The control group (C) received non-supplemented pellets, while in the other groups the pellet contained 1% algae (A), 3% sunflower oil (OS), or 3% soybean (SO) oil. Soybean and sunflower oil (3%) in the diet increased the linoleic acid (LA) content in meat of 12-week-old rabbits. The use of algae (1%) in the diet increased the n-3 PUFAs eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) compared with the vegetable oil and control groups, and decreased the n-6/n-3 ratio. The effect of the diet on FTO and FABP4 gene expression depended on the age of the rabbits. In older animals (18 weeks of age) the expression of these genes was highest in the group with 1% algae. Furthermore, the FA profile and FTO and FABP4 gene expression were affected by the age of rabbits, but not by sex. The results showed that diet is an important tool to modulate the FA profile in rabbit meat by changing the expression of fat metabolism–related genes.