Choline-deficiency fatty liver: relation of plasma phospholipids to liver triglycerides

Abstract

Male rats were fed ad lib. a choline-supplemented (CS) or a choline-deficient (CD) high-fat diet after an overnight fast, and were then sacrificed at 3-hr intervals up to 24 hr. Liver and plasma lipids were determined after fractionation by thin-layer chromatography. Liver triglycerides in CD rats were 2.5 and 6.3 times as high as in CS rats after 6 and 24 hr., respectively. In CD rats liver phospholipids were consistently lower than in the controls. The accumulation of triglycerides in the liver of CD rats was accompanied by a gradual decline in the concentration of phospholipids in the plasma. Oral administration of choline to CD rats completely prevented any further accumulation of triglycerides in the liver, as well as any further decline in the level of plasma and liver phospholipids. These results suggest that in CD rats there is a defect in the normal utilization of dietary fat by the liver, because of insufficient synthesis of the phospholipids required for the conversion of chylomicra triglycerides to low-density plasma lipoprotein triglycerides.