Dietary linoleic acid and lipogenesis in rat adipose tissue

Summary Weanling rats were fed diets in which linoleic content varied from 0.4 to 11%. The changes of epididymal adipose tissue lipogenesis from glucose do not depend upon the linoleic content of the diets.     

Experimental liver fibrosis induced in rats receiving high doses of alcohol and alternating between regular and vitamin-depleted diets

Liver fibrosis was induced in rats by simulating human alcoholic eating and drinking patterns. Alcohol addiction was established by gradually increasing the ethanol concentration in the drinking water; salts were added at the terminal stage. The hepatocytes of rats receiving alcohol concentrations exceeding 50% (v/v) (similar to vodka) exhibited alcoholic hyaline (Mallory bodies). Alcoholic liver fibrosis was induced by alternating between regular and autoclaved (vitamin-depleted) diets, simulating the irregular eating habits of human alcoholics. In the livers of rats receiving 70% (v/v) ethanol (comparable to absinthe) with 25% saline and fed the alternating diets, pericellular fibrosis was induced. No significant difference in calorie intake between control and alcohol rats was detected except when rats underwent drinking bouts (heavy drinking phase). This indicates that neither a high-fat diet nor a choline-depleted diet is necessary to induce the alcoholic fibrosis seen in human alcoholics.     

Ultrastructural study of binucleation in cells of the rat adrenal glomerular zone after a prolonged low-sodium diet

Summary Binucleate cells have been found in the glomerular zone of the adrenal cortex in rats subjected to low-sodium diets. By considering the various possibilities for their production, both the findings of nuclei in process of constriction and nuclei identical in form, confronted and smaller in size than those of neighbour cells, are in agreement with an amitotic nuclear division as the possible mechanism for the formation of these cells.     

Hypolipidemic action of onion and garlic unsaturated oils in sucrose fed rats over a two-month period

Summary The feeding of a high-sucrose diet to normal rats for a period of 2 months increased serum and tissue cholesterol and triglycerides very significantly. Simultaneous feeding of the unsaturated oils of onion or garlic with the sucrose diet counterated these effects of sucrose. However, along with the lipid-reducing effects, a small but significant tissue-protein reducing effect of the oils were also observed. The hypolipidemic action of the oils may be related to their action on both lipid and protein synthesis.The authors acknowledge with thanks Prof. J. K. Sen Gupta, and the authorities of the University of Maiduguri for the award of a grant to this project. Authors, to whom reprint requests should be addressed.     

The adequacy of thiamine in liquid diets used in animal models of alcoholism

Summary The effects of chronic administration of 2 types of liquid diets on brain thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) levels have been investigated. With the Lieber-DeCarli diet, rats in the control group had significantly lower TPP levels compared with those of the ethanol group. The Nutrament diet used in mice was apparently adequate in the thiamine supply.Acknowledgment. The authors are thankful to Dr Hebe Greizerstein for her review and comments on this mansucript.     

Lipid overload induced in myocardial cells by vegetable oils. Observation using electron microscopy]

Comparative studies were made to estimate the lipid overloading of myocardiac cells in rats fed by groups, for 3 and 6 days, one of the following dietary oils: peanut oil, maize oil, sunflower oi, soyabean oil, rapeseed-primor oil, rapeseed-canbra oil and rapeseed oil.     

Increase in Na+, K+ -ATPase enzyme units in liver and kidneys from essential fatty acid deficient rats.

(3H)-Ouabain binding to liver and kidney preparations was utilized to estimate the number of Na+, K+-ATPase enzyme units in livers and kidneys from rats fed 2% corn oil supplemented or fat-free diets. The specific (3H)-ouabain binding in liver and kidney preparations from fatty acid deficient rats was increased approximately 40%, but the affinity of the binding sites for ouabain (Kd-value) remained unchanged. The increased concentration of Na+, K+-ATPase enzyme units observed in the essential fatty acid deficient rats may contribute to the reduced body fat accumulation and elevated heat production observed in these animals.     

Glutathione peroxidase in dried blood spots.

A new procedure utilizing dried blood spots was developed for detecting glutathione peroxidase deficiency. Samples from a known patient with a partial defect and from rats with an induced deficiency were distinguished from respective control groups by their longer defluorescence endpoints. Samples from 100 patients with anemia and 2 phenyl-ketonuric infants on low-protein diets contained glutathione peroxidase activity similar to that in 82 controls, when screened for the enzyme defect by the new procedure.     

A synergistic interation between the teratogenic effect of trypan blue and dietary deficiency in the rat

Summary There was a increased incidence, compared to controls, of exencephaly and micropthalmia in the offspring of rats fed a vitamin D deficient diet and injected with trypan blue on day 9 of gestation. Oral vitamin D did not reverse the effect.Acknowledgments. The author wishes to thank Dr G. Lumb and Dr. B. Mawer for advice on diets, and Mrs de Silva for making the assays.     

Glutathione peroxidase in dried blood spots

Summary A new procedure utilizing dried blood spots was developed for detecting glutathione peroxidase deficiency. Samples from a known patient with a partial defect and from rats with an induced deficiency were distinguished from respective control groups by their longer defluorescence endpoints., Samples from 100 patients with anemia and 2 phenylketonuric infants on low-protein diets contained glutathione peroxidase activity similar to that in 82 controls, when screened for the enzyme defect by the new procedure.