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Direct Incorporation of ß-Hydroxybutyric Acid into Milk Fat Butyric and Hexanoic Acids in Vivo^{1, 2,}

ABSTRACT

Recently, Kumar et al. (7) reported that cleavage of ß-hydroxybutyric acid into C₂ fragments was not necessary for the synthesis of milk fat butyrate and higher fatty acids by mammary supernatants obtained from lactating goats and rabbits. This finding gives strong support to earlier work by Shaw and Knodt, Popják and his co-workers, and others [see review by Luick (9)] which suggested that ß-hydroxybutyrate was used as such for milk fat synthesis by intact cows. On the other hand, similar work with C¹⁴ butyrate, indicating that it too was utilized directly for fatty acid, synthesis (7, 13), has been shown of little significance when applied to the intact animal (1). In the studies reported below, we have shown that the observations of Kumar et al. (7)—namely that ß-hydroxybutyrate is converted directly to milk fat butyrate and hexanoate—apply equally well to the intact lactating cow.

Milk fat samples were obtained from two lactating dairy cows at 3 and 12 hr following the intravenous injection of 2.34 mc sodium D,L 3C¹⁴ß-hydroxybutyrate.

¹ Research supported by a contract with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

² From the Department of Animal Husbandry, University of California, Davis.

³ U.S. Fulbright Scholar, The University of New England, Armidale, N.S.W., Australia. Permanent address: Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, College, Alaska,

⁴ Kellogg Foundation Fellow. Present address: National Institute of Animal Industry, Chiba-Shi, Japan.