LIPID STORAGE UNDER ABNORMAL CONDITIONS 697 



Papadopoulou 664 have noted that the synthesis of choline is significantly re- 

 duced in fatty livers, even when this organ is adequately supplied with 

 glycogen. When the fatty degeneration is produced by phosphorus poison- 

 ing, choline synthesis from methionine and colamine is completely abol- 

 ished. 



According to Handler and Bernheim, 782 the destruction of choline is de- 

 creased in animals with fatty livers. These workers demonstrated that the 

 activity of choline oxidase was depressed in the fatty liver. Since this is the 

 principal enzyme concerned with the degradation of choline, it is evident 

 that the capacity for destroying this substance is reduced in animals with 

 fatty livers. 



h'. Liver Function Tests: Li and Freeman 565 reported that the hepatic 

 dye clearance test is reduced during the first weeks when dogs are given a 

 protein-deficient diet with cholesterol. This retardation can be largely 

 attributed to the accumulation of lipids in the liver. 



(3) Abnormal Deposition of Essential Lipids (Lipidoses) 



Thannhauser 917 coined the term, lipidoses (sometimes spelled lipoidoses) 

 to designate a group of diseases in which lipid deposition occurs in the retic- 

 ulum and in the histiocytes. The term, xanthomatoses, 918 was originally 

 applied to many of the diseases which are now classed as lipidoses. This 

 second term was first employed as descriptive of the yellow coloration of the 

 affected organs. However, the terminology of Thannhauser 917 seems more 

 appropriate, and it has been generally accepted by most workers in the 

 field. The term, xanthomatoses, is accordingly reserved for those types of 

 lipidoses in which cholesterol is the predominant lipid. The several 

 types of lipidoses differ from each other in the nature of the lipid 

 component and in its site of storage. For a more complete discus- 

 sion of the subject of lipidoses, the reader is referred to the monograph of 

 Thannhauser, 917 and to the review articles of Pick, 919 Sperry, 920 Sobotka, 921 

 and Thannhauser and Schmidt. 922 



a. Xanthomatoses. Although cholesterol is the principal constituent 

 in the deposits which occur in xanthomatosis, considerable amounts of 

 phospholipid likewise occur, while only an extremely limited proportion 



917 S. J. Thannhauser, Lipidoses: Diseases of the Cellular Lipid Metabolism, 2nd ed., 

 Oxford Univ. Press, London-New York, 1950. 



918 S. J. Thannhauser and H. Magendantz, Ann. Internal Med., 11, 1662-1746(1938). 



919 L. Pick, Am. J. Med. Set., 185, 453-469, 601-616 (1933). 



920 W. M. Sperry, /. Mount Sinai Hosp., 9, 799-817 (1942). 



921 H. Sobotka, J. Mount Sinai Hosp., 9, 795-798 (1942). 



922 S. J. Thannhauser and G. Schmidt, Physiol. Revs., 26, 275-317 (1946). 



