EFECTO DE LA SUPLEMENTACIÓN CON VITAMINA E EN LOS ÁCIDOS GRASOS POLIINSATURADOS Y EN LA EXPRESION DE GENES RELACIONADOS CON EL METABOLISMO LIPÍDICO EN L. THORACIS DE CORDEROS LIGEROS

Light lambs (n=62) were allocated in 5 groups: 8 lambs with their dams grazing alfalfa, 12 lambs indoors fed commercial concentrate from weaning to slaughter and the rest of lambs were fed concentrate supplemented with 500 mg of dl-α-tocopheryl acetate/kg concentrate for different days before slaughter (VE10d, VE20d and VE30d), and kept indoors. In L.thoracis muscle the period length of supplementation with α-tocopherol had significant influence increasing the content until the end of the study. EPA, DPA and DHA content increased significantly (P<0.001) in alfalfa lambs respect to concentrate lambs. SCD expression had higher levels in VE30d. ELOVL5, ELOVL6 and FADS2 showed similar expression pattern, increasing the expression in VE10d. The data indicated that supplemented diet with vitamin E is a factor affecting SCD, ELOVL6, ELOVL5 and FADS2 gene expression and alfalfa grazing affects PUFA content.