678 VI. OCCURRENCE OF LIPIDS IN THE ANIMAL 



Table 24 



Comparison of the Effects of Choline, Lipocaic, and Inositol on 

 Different Types of Fatty Livers' 1 



Lipotropic action* by 

 Regimen used for production of fatty livers Choline Lipocaic Inositol 



Depancreatized dogs + + * c + + * — ? 



Rats: 



High-fat diet 



Thiamine + + * - 



All B vi tamins + + * — — 



Cholesterol +* + 



Fat-free diet 



Thiamine + + * - 



Thiamine and riboflavin ! + + * — — 



Thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, pyri- 



doxine + * — +* 



The 4 vitamins mentioned above, biotin ++ -f- + 



B vitamins, cholesterol + + + 



° Adapted from E. W. McHenry and J. M. Patterson, Physiol. Revs., 24, 128-167 

 (1944), p. 160. 



6 ++, Strong lipotropic action; -f-, moderate lipotropic action; 0, no lipotropic ac- 

 tion; — , lack of data. 



c * indicates verification in two or more laboratories. 



rats on cholesterol-containing diets. In contradistinction to the action of 

 choline, inositol does not exert any preferential effect in removing choles- 

 terol. Moreover, according to McHenry and Patterson 547 and Handler, 834 

 in the case of rats which had received a diet free from vitamin B 2 during the 

 preliminary period, choline was uniformly more effective than inositol in 

 decreasing liver glycerides or cholesterol esters in cholesterol-fed rats re- 

 ceiving diets either with or without fat. 833 Inositol does not have a favor- 

 able effect on hemorrhagic kidneys produced by acute choline deficiency. 835 

 There appears to be little doubt that the mechanism of action of choline and 

 that of inositol as lipotropic agents are entirely distinct. 



(d) Fatty Livers Resulting from a Deficiency of Essential Acids. There is 

 a general opinion that lecithins are composed of equal proportions of satu- 

 rated and unsaturated acids. 836,837 Since the iodine numbers of most leci- 

 thins greatly exceed the value of 32.7 for palmityl-oleyllecithin, or 31.5 for 

 stearyl-oleyllecithin, it would appear that they must have either 2 mono- 



834 P. Handler, J. Biol. Chem., 162, 77-85 (1946). 



836 C. H. Best, F. Hoffmann, C. C. Lucas, and J. Talesnik, J. Physiol, 105, 27P (1946). 



836 H. Thierfelder and E. Klenk, Die Chemie der Cerebroside und Phosphatide, Springer, 

 Berlin, 1930. 



837 P. A. Levene and I. P. Rolf, J. Biol. Chem., 46, 193-207 (1921). 



