FATTY LIVERS IN RATS DEFICIENT IN ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS

1. 1. Male rats take at least 10 weeks to develop fatty livers when fed diets lacking essential fatty acids and by this time they have been depleted of these acids in their livers. 2. 2. The deficient rats compared to the control rats have (a) an increased concentration of triglycerides and phospholipids in the liver; (b) a raised level of serum free fatty acids; (c) a lowered level of serum triglycerides and phospholipids; (d) an unaltered rate of synthesis of liver fatty acids; (e) a greater rate of secretion of triglycerides from the liver to the plasma; and (f) an altered amount and composition of the very low density lipoproteins in the plasma. 3. 3. A common cause of fatty livers is a decreased formation or secretion of lipoproteins. Even though there is a change in the composition of the very low density lipoprotein in the rats deficient in essential fatty acids, the etiology of this fatty liver appears to differ from the cases in which there is a decreased secretion of the plasma lipoproteins. © 1968.