Objective and methods: Mercaptoacetate (MA) inhibits hepatic fatty acid oxidation (FAO) and stimulates feeding in rats fed fat-rich diets. To test whether the feeding stimulation by MA depends on hepatic FAO, we compared the effects of intraperitoneally injected MA (45.6 mg/kg body weight) with saline in rats fed diets containing 18% predominately long-chain triacylglycerols (LCTs; > or =90% 16 C) or 18% medium-chain triacylglycerols (MCTs; 51% 10-12 C). We hypothesized that, because medium-chain fatty acids reach the liver and are oxidized faster than long-chain fatty acids, if MA's feeding-stimulatory effect depends on hepatic FAO, MA should stimulate feeding more in MCT-fed rats than in LCT-fed rats.
Results: Although MA injected in mid-light phase stimulated feeding similarly in MCT- and LCT-fed rats, MA injected at light onset initially stimulated food intake (1 h) only in LCT- and not in MCT-fed rats. To investigate MA's metabolic effects during the initial hour, rats were sacrificed 30 min after light-onset injections. At this time plasma beta-hydroxybutyrate appeared to be higher in MCT- than in LCT-fed rats and to be increased by MA. In a final experiment, MA did not affect fatty acid content in liver and duodenum tissues but increased fatty acids in duodenal tissue mitochondria from 12 h-fasted rats fed chow.
Conclusion: In light-onset tests, adaptation to the MCT diet increased hepatic FAO but not the feeding-stimulatory effect of MA in comparison with adaptation to the LCT diet, suggesting that at this time MA does not act in the liver to stimulate feeding or that this effect is not due to FAO inhibition. Inhibition of duodenal mitochondrial FAO may be another metabolic process through which MA stimulates feeding.