Fatty Acid Profile of Muscle, Fatty Body, Adipose Tissue and Serum of Caiman latirostris in Captivity.

SIMONCINI, M S; LEIVA, P; REY PAÉZ; LAVANDERA J; WILLINER, M R; NEGRO, E; FRUTOS, ANTONIO E.; PIÑA, CARLOS I.; BERNAL, C; GONZALEZ, M

Santa Fe

Congreso; 25th Working Meeting of the Crocodile Specialist Group, Santa Fe, Argentina; 2018

Lipids are important constituents of cell membranes and play a major role in metabolic processes. They are composed of fatty acids (FA) of different chain lengths that may be saturated or unsaturated. The FA profile in the adipose tissue is modified through diet. The aim of this study was to compare the FA profile of four tissues (muscle, serum, fatty body and adipose tissue) of Caiman latirostris bred for two years by Proyecto Yacaré. The FA profile was determinate by gas chromatograph. Data were analyzed by similarity analysis (ANOSIM), non metrical multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and principal component analysis (PCA). The results show that FA profile of adipose tissue and fatty body were similar (regarding to polyunsaturated and saturated FA), and they were different from the serum and muscle. The muscle is characterized by the presenceof linolenic, eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids (fatty acids that are of great importance for health and are recommended for human consumption), while the adipose tissue and the fatty body have FA such as linolenic, eicosatrienoic and docosatrienoic and saturated fatty acid like myristic. The serum was characterized by polyunsaturated fatty acids such as arachidonic, docosadienoic, linoleic, and saturated fatty acids like stearic. In the muscle we find different polyunsaturated fatty acids in comparison with the fatty body and adipose tissue. This would be related to the different functions of the tissues. The knowledge of the fatty acids composition of these tissues could define possible uses of them and allow modifying the diet to improve FA profiles.