Stearoyl-CoA desaturase indexes and n-6/n-3 fatty acids ratio as biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk factors in normal-weight rabbits fed high fat diets

Background: biomarkers for cardiometabolic risk (cmr) factors would be important tools to maximize the effectiveness of dietary interventions to prevent cardiovascular diseases. thus,the aim of this work was to analyze stearoyl-coa desaturase (scd) indexes and n-6/n-3 fatty acids (fa) ratio as biomarkers of cmr induced by feeding rabbits on high fat diets (hfds). methods: rabbits were fed either regular diet or 18 % fat in regular diet (hfd) or 1 % cholesterol diet (hd) or diet containing 1 % cholesterol and 18 % fat (hfd-hd) during 6 weeks. body weights (bw),blood pressure,visceral abdominal fat (vaf) and glucose tolerance test were determined. total cholesterol (tc),low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (ldl-c),high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (hdl-c),triglycerides (tg),fasting glucose (fg),and fa levels from plasma were measured. scd indexes were calculated as product/precursor ratios of individual fa. results: bw was similar in all diet groups. hd increased tc,ldl-c,hdl-c,and tg. hfd increased tg,vaf and fg,and decreased hdl-c. the addition of hfd to hd joined to dyslipidemia increased vaf and fg. scd indexes were increased and n-6/n-3 was unchanged in hd. scd indexes were reduced and n-6/n-3 fa ratio was increased in hfd and hfd-hd. cmr factors were correlated positively with n-6/n-3 fa ratio. although vaf had a stronger correlation with n-6/n-3 fa ratio than with scd indexes,vaf was associated independently to both markers. conclusions: hfd simulating lipid composition of the average western-style diet induced experimental rabbit models of normal-weight metabolic syndrome (ms). scd indexes and n-6/n-3 were modified according to the type of dietary fat. considering that vaf and cmr factors appear to be stronger associated to n-6/n-3 fa ratio than to scd indexes,n-6/n-3 fa ratio may be a better biomarker of ms and cmr in normal-weight subjects than scd indexes. © 2016 alarcón et al.