Intramuscular adipocyte and fatty acid differences between high‐fat and control rabbit groups subject to a restricted diet

Fatty acids of intramuscular fat (IMF) in rabbits can influence meat quality, but it is unclear which fatty acids benefit to human health. A rabbit model of weight gain and weight loss was constructed using two rabbit groups and two growth stages. Stage 1 included control group1 fed a commercial diet(CG1) and experimental group1 fed a high fat diet (EG1). Stage 2 include control group2(CG2) and experimental group2 (EG2) both fed a restricted commercial diet. We detected differences in blood biochemical indicators as well as changes in intramuscular adipose cells and intramuscular fatty acid content in control and experiment groups at two stages. High fat induction can make rabbits become obese, have higher concentrations of glucose (GLU), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein‐cholesterol (LDL‐C) and free fatty acid (FFA), and lower concentrations of insulin (INS). In addition, a high‐fat diet promotes hypertrophy of precursor adipocytes in femoral muscles. Conversely, a restricted diet causes weight loss, decreases the concentration of TG, FFA, and INS in CG2 and EG2, and increases the deposition of unsaturated fatty acids in the femoral muscle. The content of monounsaturated trans oleic acid (C18:1n‐9T) in EG2 was significantly higher than in CG2, whereas oleic acid (C18:1n‐9C) was significantly lower in EG2 than in CG2. The polyunsaturated fatty acids Linolenate (C18:3 n‐3) and cis‐5,8,11,14,17‐Eicosapentaenoate (C20:5 n‐3) increased in CG2 and EG2. The content of Linoleate (C18:2 n‐6) and γ‐Linolenic acid (C18:3 n‐6) significantly increased in CG2. The content of cis‐11,14‐Eicosatrienoic acid (C20:2) decreased significantly in CG2, but increased significantly in EG2.Thus, a high‐fat diet can increase the formation of unhealthy fatty acids. Conversely, weight loss due to a restricted diet leads to an increase in unsaturated fatty acids in the femoral muscle, indicating that it reduces obesity symptoms and it may improve meat quality in rabbit.