Development of Portal Fatty Liver in Rats on Corn Diets; Response to Lipotropic Agents.

Abstract

During a study designed to assess the effects on rats of diets related to those consumed by children in whom Kwashiorkor develops, the consistent occurrence of fatty liver was noted. On a diet containing 76% white cornmeal and 3% or less of casein, the fatty liver in 2d generation rats was characterized by initial and preponderant accumulation of lipid in the portal areas. When the only protein in the diet was casein (9%), the rats developed a cen-trolobular type of fatty liver. Methionine, choline and vit. B12 decreased the periportal lipid in both 1st and 2d generation rats. Methionine was rarely capable of preventing deposition of some excess fat, and, in 2d generation rats, the lipotropic action of vit. B12 was unpredictable.