The effect of vitamin A deficiency on the cholesterol levels of the plasma and liver of the rat

Hypovitaminosis-A in a Family with Tylosis and Clinodactyly

“…Josephs (1944) observed a rise in lipids and cholesterol after vitamin-A administration and felt that vitamin A had an important and specific effect on the metabolism of lipoids. Recent workers could find no abnormality in the levels of cholesterol in the plasma or livers of rats deficient in vitamin A (Green et al, 1955). In our family, however, several members with hyperlipaemia, hypercholesterolaemia, and elevated beta-lipoprotein fractions (to which carotene and vitamin A attach in the serum) had very low levels of vitamin A.…”

Cholesterol and liver vitamin A in male and female rats

“…Further experiments, using more animals, have been performed, and the results have been analysed statistically. The first two experiments of this type (Green, 1955), using weanling and adult female rats, did not agree with the earlier findings, but the possibility remained that the disagreement was due to a sex difference. Four further experiments have therefore been performed, using weanling and adult rats of both sexes.…”

“…In Expts. (i) and (ii) liver cholesterol content was determined on each liver unsaponifiable fraction by the method of Kenny (1952) as modified by Green, Lowe & Morton (1955).…”

Vitamin A deficiency in the rat, with and without added dietary cholesterol

“…Cholesterol levels are unresponsive to hepatic vitamin A stores in young rats of both sexes (Green, et al 1955) or adult females, but there is a significant effect in young and adult males of cholesterol feeding on hepatic vitamin A (Kantiengar & Morton, 1955;Green, Homer, Lowe & Morton, 1957).…”