Research Article Omega-3 Fatty Acid Enriched Chevon (Goat Meat) Lowers Plasma Cholesterol Levels and Alters Gene Expressions in Rats Mahdi Ebrahimi, 1 Mohamed Ali Rajion, 1 Goh Yong Meng, 1 and Abdoreza Soleimani Farjam 2 1 Department of Veterinary Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia 2 Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia Correspondence should be addressed to Mohamed Ali Rajion; mohdali@upm.edu.my Received 4 November 2013; Revised 7 January 2014; Accepted 14 January 2014; Published 25 February 2014 Academic Editor: Beverly Muhlhausler Copyright © 2014 Mahdi Ebrahimi et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In this study, control chevon (goat meat) and omega-3 fatty acid enriched chevon were obtained from goats fed a 50% oil palm frond diet and commercial goat concentrate for 100 days, respectively. Goats fed the 50% oil palm frond diet contained high amounts of -linolenic acid (ALA) in their meat compared to goats fed the control diet. Te chevon was then used to prepare two types of pellets (control or enriched chevon) that were then fed to twenty-male-four-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats ( = 10 in each group) for 12 weeks to evaluate their efects on plasma cholesterol levels, tissue fatty acids, and gene expression. Tere was a signifcant increase in ALA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the muscle tissues and liver of the rats fed the enriched chevon compared with the control group. Plasma cholesterol also decreased ( < 0.05) in rats fed the enriched chevon compared to the control group. Te rat pellets containing enriched chevon signifcantly upregulated the key transcription factor PPAR- and downregulated SREBP-1c expression relative to the control group. Te results showed that the omega-3 fatty acid enriched chevon increased the omega-3 fatty acids in the rat tissues and altered PPAR- and SREBP-1c genes expression. 1. Introduction Researchers had succeeded in feeding goats with linseed oil [1] and polyphenol rich oil palm frond (OPF) diets which reduced microbial biohydrogenation in the rumen [2] and producing chevon (goat meat) containing increased levels of -linolenic acid (ALA, C18:3n-3). However, it remained to be determined whether consuming this “modifed” chevon containing the higher levels of -linolenic acid would also, in turn, increase the levels of the omega-3 fatty acids (FAs) in the tissues of the consumer, which could produce measurable positive health benefts. Te -linolenic acid, a nutritionally essential fatty acid that must be obtained through the diet, can be converted in the vertebrate liver or brain to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6n-3) [3] via serial steps of desaturation and elongation with fnal peroxisomal chain shortening [3], by means of desaturases and elongases [4, 5]. Te -linolenic acid can be converted to Eecosapentaenoic acid (EPA) which can be converted to DHA [6]. Te best available source of long- chain omega-3 FAs is marine products such as fsh which many people avoid eating [7]. Terefore, if consuming foods high in the shorter-chain omega-3 FAs, such as faxseed oil or enriched omega-3 animal products, gives a positive heart health advantage, it would improve the public health [8]. Making foods rich in ALA can also help increase the level of this FA in the diet. Many studies also showed that dietary omega-3 FAs work as biological regulators with several physiological and biolog- ical roles. Tey form part of the fundamental cell membrane, modify gene expression, and act as signaling molecules [9– 11]. Many researchers have demonstrated that omega-3 FAs can enhance the lipid metabolism by lowering plasma triglyc- erides. Little is known if the chevon fortifed with omega- 3 FAs can produce these efects. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms underlying the efects of these dietary nutrients Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2014, Article ID 749341, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/749341