No abstract

Fifty‐two male guinea pigs fed on a scorbutigenic diet were divided into a control group (10 mg ascorbicacid per animal per day) and a group with latent vitamin C deficiency (2 weeks on the scorbutigenic diet only, followed by a maintaining dose of 0.5 mg ascorbic acid per animal per day). After 13 weeks, 26‐14C‐cholesterol was administered intraperitoneally to all the animals, in which the14C excretion in the expired CO2 and the urine and cholesterol specific activity in the blood serum and liver were then studied at intervals of 24 hr and 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 weeks. The ascorbic acid concentration in the liver and spleen of the control animals was five times higher than in vitain C‐deficient animals. The total cholesterol concentration in serum and liver was significantly higher in the vitamin C‐deficient guinea pigs. A two‐pool analysis of the disappearance curves of serum cholesterol specific activity showed that the size of the cholesterol pool A (blood and tissues with rapid cholesterol exchange) was greater in the vitamin C‐deficient animals. The rate of the transformation of cholesterol to bile acids was estimated as the ratio of14CO2 expired to liver cholesterol specific activity. Latent vitamin C deficiency caused significant slowing down of this process (controls: 11.8±0.6; vitamin C deficiency: 8.3±0.4 mg/24 r/500 g w/w). A significant correlation between the liver ascorbic acid concentration and the rate of cholesterol transformation to bile acids was found. The results demonstrate that ascorbic acid is necessary for a normal course of cholesterol catabolism. In latent vitamin C deficiency, the rate of cholesterol catabolism slows down and cholesterol consequently accumulates in the blood and liver of vitamin C‐deficient guinea pigs.

No abstract

The effect of two dehydrated apple products (10% in diet)--apple pulp (crude fibre 3.5%, pectin 1.4%) and apple pomaces (crude fibre 13.5%, pectin 7%)--on the serum and liver lipids of growing Syrian male hamsters were studied. The animals were fed a natural diet (38% of energy substituted by milk fat; the diet contains 53 mg of cholesterol (CH) per 100 g) which resulted in an accumulation of CH and triacylglycerols (TG) in the serum as well as in the liver, and CH-rich very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) in the circulation. After two months both apple products decreased the levels of CH and TG in serum (by 40-70%) and the content of CH in VLDL with similar efficiency. Both products reduced CH content in the liver, and the apple pulp also decreased TG content. Up to the 6th month the apple pulp studied suppresses accumulation of CH and TG in both the serum and the liver. A complete analysis of lipoproteins of main density class at the time showed that the decrease of serum CH and TG to a decisive extent is due to the decrease of their concentration in VLDL (by more than 50%). Therefore, the concentration of VLDL and the whole lipoprotein pool decreased by 50%. The apple pulp doubled the amount of CH transported by HDL. Three months after the replacement of butter in the diet by corn germ oil the CH and TG levels in the serum and TG also in the liver decreased to the physiological level.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

No abstract