The liver-lipid constituents of male and female rats. 1. Effects of the fat-deficiency syndrome

Abstract

The liver vitamin A stores of male and female fat-deficient rats did not differ significantly from those of their controls which received linoleic acid, administered as cottonseed oil. Fat-deficient rats had higher liver-lipid concentrations than their controls, owing to increases in cholesteryl esters and triglycerides. Both effects were more marked in males than in females. Control males, which received 100 mg of linoleic acid per day, had considerably higher cholesteryl ester concentrations and lower triglyceride concentrations than control females which received 25 mg of linoleic acid per day. The total weights of dienoic and tetraenoic fatty acids fell, and the weight of trienoic acid rose, in the livers of fat-deficient rats. Quantitatively these effects were mostly due to changes in the phospholipid fatty acids. Falls in total liver and phospholipid-bound tetraenoic acids were almost equally marked in male and female fat-deficient rats. Losses of dienoic and increases in trienoic acids in the total liver lipid and phospholipids were more marked in males. In liver triglycerides and cholesteryl esters, rises in trienoic and falls in dienoic acid levels due to fat deficiency were more marked in males, but tetraenoic acid levels fell to a greater extent in females.