Liver Lipids of Choline-Deficient Rats

Abstract

1. Four-week-old male and female rats were given choline-deficient diets for 2 weeks. Deficient animals gained nearly as much weight as normal controls of the same sex. 2. The amounts of triglyceride and esterified cholesterol in liver lipids were increased threefold or more by the deficiency. The amounts of the major phosphatides and of unesterified cholesterol were unaffected. 3. In males, deficiency significantly increased the proportion of stearic acid in triglycerides, and, in females, the proportion of arachidonic acid was significantly decreased. 4. In the phospholipids of male rats, choline deficiency produced decreases in the amounts of linoleic acid and arachidonic acid and increased the amount of stearic acid. In the phospholipids of female rats, choline deficiency decreased the amount of arachidonic acid and increased that of linoleic acid. 5. The liver phospholipids of normal male rats had higher proportions of palmitic acid and lower proportions of stearic acid than were found in normal females. These sex differences became statistically insignificant in deficient animals.

The effect of cupric oxyacetate on rat liver damage associated with five poisons of unrelated chemical structure.

“…Although variations in means for the various groups were found, the differences were not significant. The levels of the various lipid fractions found were in general agreement with previously published results (Cook, 1958;Campbell and Kosterlitz, 1947 ; Tinoco et al, 1965).…”

Alterations of phospholipid and triglyceride metabolism in fatty liver caused by pyridoxine deficiency in rats.

“…The lower ratio of total radioactivity of serum TG to that of liver TG in the later phase of the experiment (Table 5) is also consistent with the possibility of decreased secretion of lipid from the liver into the blood . Some of the effects of pyridoxine deficiency on liver and serum lipid compositions are similar to those of choline deficiency (39,40), but the reason for the decreased level of PC in pyridoxine-deficient liver is not known. Recently, Abe et al (41) reported that starvation for 4 days decreased the level of PC and inversely increased the PE content of rat liver.…”

Effect of Estradiol and Testosterone on the Fatty Acids of Plasma Cholesteryl Esters and Phospholipids in the Castrated Rat

“…Other evidence that this pathway for lecithin synthesis may be important in the feinale rat has been obtained in rats fed diets low i l l ~nethyl groups and deficient in choline (13). Under these conditions, serum phospholipids were depressed, and sex differences in their fatty acid co~nposition were abolished.…”

“…Our interest in these sex differences in plasma cholesterol and phospholipid fatty acids was stilnulated when it was observed that the sex differences in stearic acid/palmitic acid ratios disappeared in choline-deficient male and fenlale rats (13). We therefore conducted experiments to learn whether estrogen or androgen was responsible for the observed differences, and what specific changes in the proportions of fatty acids of the subclasses of plasma phospholipids may have been induced by the hormones.…”