engleski

Insight into Croatian brown bears health status from liver and muscle fatty acid composition perspective

Presence or absence, together with different ratios of some fatty acids (FA), especially essential FA in tissues, can give an important insight into health status. To our knowledge FA composition of brown bear liver and muscles was not investigated until now, so the objective of this study was to determine the FA composition of liver (L), m. gluteus superfcialis (MG), m. semitendinosus (MS) and m. vastus lateralis (MV). The study was conducted on 38 animals (11 females, F ; 27 males, M). Thirty-three samples of L, 18 of MG, 17 of MS and 15 of MV were collected during the legal hunting season (March-May ; September-December 2015) and 5 L, 6 MG and MS and 5 MV samples (all M) were collected following interventional shooting or after vehicle collision (non hunted bears). Tissue samples were homogenized, total lipids extracted than composition of FA was determined by gas chromatography. Signifcantly higher percentage of C18:3n-3 was found in J in F in spring (N=8) than in M (N=19). Signifcantly higher percentage of C18:2n-6 was found in MG, MS and MV in F (N=4 ; N=3, respectively) in spring compared to M (N=13, 14 and 12, respectively). Signifcantly higher percentage of C15:0 in MS and C20:5n-3/C22:6n-3 ration in MV was found in F in spring (N=3, respectively) compared to M (N=9, 10, respectively) in both muscles. When comparing important FA representation in tissues of hunted (N=9) to non hunted bears (N=5), in hunted subadult M signifcantly higher percentage of C22:6n-3 were found in MS while signifcantly higher percentages of C15:0, C20:4n-6/C20:5n-3 in MV. FA such as C15:0, C18:2n-6, C18:3n-3, C20:4n-6, C20:5n-3 and C22:6n-3 have a positive association with an individual’s health and are required for normal physiological functions linked to membrane integrity and regulatory cell signals. Larger samples size is needed, but results show importance in respect of securing the availability of natural foods and taking more care about the food given at feeding sites.

fatty acid composition, liver, muscle, brown bear

nije evidentirano