Effect of Dietary Lipid on Rat Serum and Liver Cholesterol and Tissue Mast Cells.

Abstract

An increase of blood serum cholesterol was observed in rats subsisting on Purina chow diet when supplemented with butterfat, or sunflower seed oil. Animals on sunflower seed oil also showed increase of liver cholesterol. Rats on "fat-free" diet showed increase in serum cholesterol but no change in liver cholesterol. When Purina chow-butter diet was supplemented with cholesterol and propylthiouracil, an even greater increase in both serum and liver cholesterol was found. Separation of serum protein fractions by paper electrophoresis revealed that most of the cholesterol was associated with albumin and alpha globulin fraction in the rat, whereas, in man, the greatest proportion of cholesterol is found in the beta globulin fraction. This same general distribution was observed in all dietary groups regardless of their serum cholesterol levels, although rats receiving butter-cholesterol-propylthiouracil diet showed a slight shift of cholesterol toward the beta globulin fraction. No diets induced a demonstrable change in mast cell count on tissue of rat ear.