Alcohol-Induced Triglyceride Deposition in Liver Through Derangement of Fat Transport

Abstract

Single large doses of alcohol in rats promote a pronounced rise in liver triglycerides which is maximal in fifteen to twenty hours and disappears in thirty to fifty hours. The proportion of linoleic acid in the triglyceride deposited in liver is virtually the same as in the triglycerides of adipose tissue. Since linoleic acid is not synthesized in the rat, the liver triglycerides must have been formed from fatty acids mobilized from adipose tissue. The action of alcohol is apparently mediated through hormones released from the pituitary gland and can be explained in part through stimulation of the pituitary-adrenal axis. The deposition of triglycerides in liver is blocked by the administration of adrenergic blocking agents, suggesting that catecholamines are also involved in the mobilization of fat.