LIPIDS PRESENT IN LIVER 727 



when trielaidin was fed to rats, equal amounts were incorporated into the 

 several types of phospholipids in the liver. 



The most marked alterations in liver lipids occur in conditions favorable 

 to the development of fatty livers. This is discussed in Chapter VI. 



g. Miscellaneous Factors Affecting Liver Lipids. Terbruggen 171 re- 

 ported, in 1938, that the livers of scorbutic guinea pigs contained 10 to 

 19% of fat, in contrast to a normal level of 3.4 to 3.8%. However, Bald- 

 win and collaborators 172 failed to confirm Terbriiggen's findings. No sig- 

 nificant differences were found in the lipid content of the liver and carcass 

 of normal vs. scorbutic animals. Moreover, no major changes in the 

 phospholipid or cholesterol of the liver accompanied the development of 

 scurvy. No appreciable alterations in adrenal cholesterol resulted from 

 vitamin C deficiency. 



Artom et al. m reported that diethanolamine, NH(CH2CH 2 OH) 2 , ad- 

 ministered to rats which had been injected with isotopic phosphate, stim- 

 ulated the formation of both choline and non-choline phospholipids. After 

 long-continued administration of diethanolamine to rats, the isotope con- 

 tent of the total phospholipid was lower than in the controls, due to in- 

 hibition of the formation of choline containing phospholipids. Diethanola- 

 mine acts as an antagonist of ethanolamine in the formation of both leci- 

 thins and cephalins. Although a marked decrease in the choline-containing 

 phospholipids obtains, the total and non-choline lipid fractions are in- 

 creased. There is some evidence that the liver fats of the rats fed diethanol- 

 amine contained considerable amounts of this compound, incorporated in 

 an atypical phospholipid. Such unnatural phospholipids are less readily 

 metabolized than are their natural analogues, and hence accumulate in the 

 liver. 



In cirrhosis of the liver, the levels of phosphatides and of cholesterol 

 are lower than normal. 174 When choline is administered, the level of liver 

 phosphatides is restored to normal. The cholesterol content of the liver 

 was found to be increased in some cases of the Indian disease, 

 "kwashiorkor" (infantile pellagra, or malignant malnutrition), and also in 

 the nutritional edema of adults. 175 



171 A. Terbruggen, Verhandl. deut. pathol. Ges., 31, 114-121 (1938); Chem. Abst., 33, 

 9384 (1939). 



172 A. R. Baldwin, H. E. Longenecker, and C. G. King, Arch. Biochem., 5, 137-146 

 (1944). 



173 C. Artom, W. E. Cornatzer, and M. Crowder, /. Biol. Chem., 180, 495-503 (1949). 



174 E. Polli and G. Ratti, Biochem. Z., 321, 166-179 (1950). 



175 V. Ramalingaswami, S. Sriramachari, and P. G. Tulpule, Lancet, 263, 661-662 

 (1952). 



