X. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY 69 



of the dietary fat, as follows, in the liver fat of adult rats fed a low choline 

 diet containing 5 % casein and 40 % fat: butterfat, 30.7 %; beef fat, 27.1 %; 

 olive oil, 15.6 %; and cod liver oil, 7.2 %. The proportion of saturated fatty 

 acids containing 14 to 18 carbons in the diet appeared to increase the 

 deposition of fat more so than unsaturated fatty acids, including the solid 

 unsaturated acid, elaidic acid.^^ Stetten and Salcedo '''*■ '^^ fed ethyl esters of 

 fatty acids in low choline diets and found the degree of the fatty liver to 

 increase as the chain length decreased from 18 to 14. No severe fatty livers 

 occurred if the dietary fatty acid contained less than 12 carbons. Ethyl 

 laurate, however, was extremely toxic and caused death within a few days 

 with symptoms resembling those of an acute deficiency of potassium. The 

 fatal myocarditis was not related to a lack of tissue potassium, however, 

 and the syndrome was prevented by choline. 



Raman^^ compared the liver and carcass lipids resulting from feeding a 

 fat-free and a high fat diet with and without choline. The dietary fat was 

 highly saturated and fed at a 30 % level. The proportion of saturated fatty 

 acids and the degree of unsaturation of the unsaturated fatty acids of liver 

 phospholipids increased in choline-deficient rats on both diets. The carcass 

 fat of animals on the high fat ration was increased by choline from 1.5 to 

 2.8% of carcass weight. Carcass fat on the fat-free diet was much higher 

 (12% of carcass weight) and was unaffected by choline. It was evident 

 that choline had little, if any, effect on the character of depot fat synthe- 

 sized and stored in rats fed the fat-free ration. The usual lipotropic action 

 of choline on liver lipids was observed in these experiments. 



The feeding of cholesterol brings about the deposition of neutral fat and 

 of cholesterol esters in livers of rats fed low choline diets containing added 

 cholesterol. Choline prevents the fatty liver and partly reduces the level of 

 the sterol esters. ^'^ • ^* Similar results were obtained by supplements of ca- 

 ggjj^49, 50, 51 ^j^(j Qf methionine.^- Choline deficiency was aggravated by 

 dietary cholesterol in weanling rats.^° Choline was protective over the 

 critical 8-day period but not over a 30-day period in surviving animals. ^^ 

 Inositol was not more effective than choline upon cholesterol esters. ^^ 



*^ H. J. Channon, S. W. F. Hanson, and P. A. Loizides, Biochem. J. 36, 214 (1942). 

 " D. Stetten, Jr., and J. Salcedo, Jr., J. Nutrition 29, 167 (1945). 

 ■•5 H. D. Kesten, J. Salcedo, Jr., and D. Stetten, Jr., J. Nvtriiion 29, 171 (1945). 

 4 8 C. S. Raman, Biochem. J. 52, 320 (1952). 



" C. H. Best and J. H. Ridout, ./. Physiol. (London) 78, 415 (1933). 

 <8 C. H. Best, H. J. Channon, and J. H. Ridout, /. Physiol. (London) 81, 409 (1934). 

 *^ C. H. Best and J. H. Ridout, J. Physiol. (London) 87, 55P (1936). 

 ^0 A. W. Beeston, H. J. Channon, and H. Wilkinson, Biochem. J. 29, 2659 (1935). 

 " A. W. Beeston, H. J. Channon, and A. P. Piatt, /. Soc. Chem. Ind. 56, 292 (1937). 

 " H. J. Channon, M. C. Manifold, and A. P. Piatt, Biochem. J. 32, 969 (1938). 

 5' W. H. Griffith and D. J. Mulford, J. Nutrition 21, 633 (1941). 

 " C. H. Best, C. C. Lucas, J. M. Patterson, and J. H. Ridout, Biochem. J. 48, 452 

 (1951). 



