The effect of dietary lipids and antioxidants on the activity of epoxide hydratase in the rat liver and intestine

The effect of varying the fatty acid composition of the lipid components of the diet on the activity of epoxide hydratase in the rat liver and intestinal mucosa has been studied. Feeding a 10% cod liver oil diet (containing 18% C20:5 and 11% C22:6) resulted in a 3-fold increase in epoxide hydratase activity in the liver and a 1.6-fold increase in the intestine compared to rats fed a fat-free diet. The activity of epoxide hydratase in rats fed a cod liver oil diet was significantly greater than that for the group fed a lard diet (containing mainly saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids) containing the same quantity of vitamin E. Thus, the enhancing effect of the cod liver oil diet was due to the polyunsaturated fatty acids in this oil. Dietary corn oil (58% C18:2) also stimulated epoxide hydratase activity in the liver but not in the intestine. Vitamin E levels of up to 500 mg/kg diet were ineffective at inducing epoxide hydratase activity in both the liver and intestine. Significant changes in the fatty acid composition of hepatic and intestinal microsomes took place when rats were fed diets of different fatty acid composition. These changes were such that the proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the microsomal fractions reflected the amounts of these fatty acids in the dietary fat. Hepatic epoxide hydratase activity was found to be positively correlated to the proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the microsomal fractions of the liver.