Responses of livers of mice to type of dietary fat

Abstract

Nine edible oils or fats (hydrogenated coconut, cod liver, Wesson, linseed, olive, butter, lard, corn and cocoa-butter) were fed to Swiss albino mice for 90 days to study the effects of saturation, chain length, and essential fatty acid content on the liver. The specific oil or fat (selected for ranges in above variables) was used as the diet fat in a high-fat (28% ), low-protein ( 8 % ), hypolipotropic diet. H a l f the animals received choline chloride (2 g m / l O O g m ) as a lipotropic supplement.Within the supplemented groups, ceroid pigment was limited to livers of mice fed cod liver oil. Among the unsupplemented groups, production of ceroid varied with the iodine value (IV) of the diet fat. Fats with low IV produced no pigment; intermediate N showed ceroid distended Kupffer cells distributed throughout the hepatic lobule, while large, acellular, vacuolated masses of ceroid resulted from fats with highest N.Hepatic liposis was minimal in supplemented groups; maximal in unsupplemented groups. Hepatic stroma was within normal limits in all groups. Production of ceroid pigment appeared to be unrelated to degree of liposis or fibrosis.Responses of livers to several atypical diets are to some extent dependent upon the type and chemical nature of the dietary fat (Norkin, '67, '68; Pat& et al., '67). The influence of saturation of fatty acids has RCeiVed particular attention (Hartroft and Porta, '65; Thompson and Hunt, '66). Results of such studies have pigment. Ceroid pigment is a polymerized, insoluble, incompletely oxidized product of unsaturated fatty acids characteristically associated with nutritional damage to the liver and resulting from disordered fatty acid metabofism (Hawoft and Ports, '65). MATERIALS AND METHODSbeen contradictory because of variations in the species studied, type of data collected and methods of analysis (Hartroft and Porta, '65; Thompson and Hunt, '66; Norkin, '67. Here the responses of livers of mice fed nine different edible fats or oils are considered. The specific oil or fat used as the dietary lipid was selected for range in saturation, chain length or content of essential fatty acid. The total diet was designed to produce rapid and massive hepatic liposis (Gyorgy and Goldblatt, '39; Meader and Williams, '57; Ball, '64). Vitamins (excluding lipotropic materials), minerals and trace substances were available at adequate levels. The only variable in the diets was the type of fat. Each of these diets was fed with and without lipotropic (choline) supplementation. The major purpose was to study the influence of each of the nine edible fats upon hepatic liposis and formation of ceroid pigment. High levels of fat and carbohydrate and deficiencies in protein and lipotropic agents were used to accentuate liposis and formation of ceroid Animals. Young adult nulliparous female mice (with an average weight of 30 gm) were used. This Swiss albino (TS) stock is well standardized and is free of spontaneous liver disease (Ball, W i l l i a m s and Collum, '63). Prior to feeding the ...