LIPID STORAGE UNDER ABNORMAL CONDITIONS 689 



Linn.), 886,887 has been reported by Nath et aZ. 887-889 to counteract fatty- 

 livers. The lipotropic action is presumably due to increased desaturation 

 of the liver fats, 887 and may be attributable to the thiomethyl pentose in its 

 molecule. 



Manganese has likewise been considered to exert a lipotropic action. 

 Thus, Amdur et aZ. 890 noted that, at a given level of choline, more fat was 

 present in the liver of manganese-deficient rats than in the livers of animals 

 receiving adequate amounts of this element. Since the lipotropic action of 

 manganese was greater when the choline content of the diet was low, an 

 interaction between manganese and choline would seem to be indicated. 



Sellers and You 891 were able to prevent an excessive fat deposition in the 

 livers of rats receiving a hypolipotropic diet, by maintaining the animals in 

 a cold room. It is believed that the increased metabolic rate is responsible 

 for the prevention of fat deposition in this case. However, this so-called 

 "pseudolipotropic" action of cold is a matter of degree, inasmuch as fatty 

 livers do develop in animals kept in the cold when the low-choline diet 

 contains 50% of fat. 892 On the other hand, the fat deposition in the liver 

 at low temperatures, on this diet, was found to be less pronounced than 

 in the case of animals kept at room temperature. This pseudolipotropic 

 effect can be demonstrated equally well in acclimatized and in normal ani- 

 mals; apparently it is not mediated by either the thyroid or the adrenal 

 glands. 



The extent of hepatic fat deposition is influenced by the kidney, as well. 

 Thus, Ludewig and Chanutin, 893 in confirmation of earlier tests, 894 found 

 that the amount of total lipids in the livers of partially nephrectomized 

 rats was less than in pair-fed intact animals, irrespective of whether or not 

 choline was included in the diet. Hall and Drill 895 reported that liver ex- 

 tract prevented fatty livers and the subsequent diffuse, progressive hepatic 

 fibrosis which resulted in the case of rats fed a diet containing 16% casein 

 and 51% fat for twenty-nine weeks. The lipotropic effect of the liver ex- 



886 M. C. Nath, Science & Culture, 8, 427 (1943). 



887 M. C. Nath, Ann. Biochem. Exptl. Med. (India), 8, 55-62 (1943). 



888 M. C. Nath and H. D. Brahmachari, Ann. Biochem. Exptl. Med. (India), 9, 13-16 

 (1949). 



889 M. C. Nath, J. S. Gadgil, and S. Pontremoli, Nature, 169, 711 (1952). 



890 M. O. Amdur, L. C. Norris, and G. F. Heuser, /. Biol. Chem., 164, 783-784 (1946). 



891 E. A. Sellers and R. Wen You, Science, 110, 713 (1949). 



892 E. A. Sellers and R. Wen You, Biochem. J., 51, 573-576 (1952). 



893 S. Ludewig and A. Chanutin, J. Biol. Chem., 167, 35-48 (1947). 



894 J. C. Hortenstine, A. Chanutin, and S. Ludewig, J. Biol. Chem., 125, 455-459 

 (1938). 



895 C. A. Hall and V. A. Drill, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med., 69, 3-6 (1948). 



