Subject characteristics (eg, menopausal status) modulated the dietary requirement for choline, and a daily intake at the current AI was not sufficient to prevent organ dysfunction in 19 of the subjects.

No abstract

Choline and C1 metabolism pathways intersect at the formation of methionine from homocysteine. Hepatic S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) concentrations are decreased in animals ingesting diets deficient in choline, and it has been suggested that this occurs because the availability of methionine limits AdoMet synthesis. If the above hypothesis is correct, changes in hepatic AdoMet concentrations should relate in some consistent manner to changes in hepatic methionine concentrations. Rats were fed on a choline-deficient or control diet for 1-42 days. Hepatic choline concentrations in control animals were 105 nmol/g, and decreased to 50% of control after the first 7 days on the choline-deficient diet. Hepatic methionine concentrations decreased by less than 20%, with most of this decrease occurring between days 3 and 7 of choline deficiency. Hepatic AdoMet concentrations decreased by 25% during the first week, and continued to decrease (in total, by over 60%) during each subsequent week during which animals consumed a choline-deficient diet. Hepatic S-adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy) concentrations increased by 50% when animals consumed a choline-deficient diet. AdoHcy is formed when AdoMet is utilized as a methyl donor. In summary, choline deficiency can deplete hepatic stores of AdoMet under dietary conditions that only minimally decrease the availability of methionine within liver. Thus decreased availability of methionine may not have been the only mechanism whereby choline deficiency lowers hepatic AdoMet concentrations. We suggest that increased utilization of AdoMet might also have occurred.

An understanding of the biosynthesis and metabolism of dimethylamine (DMA) is important because it is a precursor of dimethylnitrosamine (nitroso-DMA). DMA is the major short-chain aliphatic amine in human and rat urine. DMA is formed from trimethylamine (TMA), which, in turn, is a breakdown product of dietary choline. Enzymes within gut bacteria catalyse both of these reactions; it is not known whether mammalian cells can form DMA. To determine the relative importance of dietary choline, bacteria and other mechanisms for the formation of DMA, we measured DMA excretion in the urine of rats fed on a diet devoid of choline, and in urine of rats with no bacterial colonization of the intestines. We also describe an improved gas-chromatographic method for the measurement of methylamines in biological fluids. In control rats there were significant amounts of DMA within several biological fluids [urine, 54.2 +/- 3.0 mumol/kg body wt. per 24 h (556.2 +/- 37.5 nmol/ml); blood, 18.8 +/- 1.9 nmol/ml; gastric juice, 33.5 +/- 10.5 nmol/ml; means +/- S.E.M.]. Animals eating a diet containing no choline excreted as much MMA and DMA as did choline-supplemented rats (25-35 mumol/kg per 24 h), and they excreted slightly less TMA (2 versus 2.5 mumol/kg per 24 h). Rats with no gut bacteria excreted the same amount of DMA in their urine as did the control animals (45-55 mumol/kg per 24 h). They excreted much less MMA (16.3 +/- 1.5 versus 40.3 +/- 2.6 mumol/kg per 24 h; mean +/- S.E.M.; P less than 0.01), TMA (0.7 +/- 0.2 versus 2.5 +/- 0.5 mumol/kg per 24 h; mean +/- S.E.M.; P less than 0.01) and piperidine (2.0 +/- 0.3 versus 6.3 +/- 0.6 mumol/kg per 24 h; mean +/- S.E.M.; P less than 0.01) in their urine. From our studies we conclude that DMA is present in significant amounts within gastric fluid, an environment that is ideal for nitrosamine formation (under acidic conditions, nitroso-DMA is chemically formed by the reaction of nitrite with DMA). Results also indicate that dietary choline was not the sole precursor for DMA formation and that gut bacteria are not essential for the formation of DMA. Hence in mammals there must be endogenous pathways that are capable of forming DMA; however, these endogenous mechanisms remain unidentified.