The mode of action of lipotropic agents

Abstract

A significant difference between the microchemical and microbiological assays for choline in the hydrolysates of the phospholipids isolated from the livers of rats fed triethyl-[beta]-hydroxyethyl -ammonium chloride suggested that appreciable amts. of an unnatural base had been incorporated into the liver phospholipids. Fractionation procedures were devised which led to chemical proof that the triethyl homologue of choline had been incorporated into the phospholipids. This finding provides further proof that the lipotropic effect of choline is associated with the intact molecule rather than its methyl groups.