X. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY 73 



through the adrenals.^* That depot fat was the probable source of the 

 mobihzed fat was indicated by the use of deuterium as a means of dis- 

 tinguishing newly synthesized triglycerides.^^- ^^ Liver fat was increased by 

 both growth hormone and by ACTH,^^- ^^ presumably the active materials 

 in the original pituitary extract employed by Best and Campbell.*^ On the 

 other hand, the administration of cortisone in rats fed a low choline diet 

 failed to prevent the deposition of liver fat, although considerable protec- 

 tion against hemorrhagic degeneration was afforded.^" Olson and Deane^^ 

 described changes in the adrenal cortex during the acute phase of hemor- 

 rhagic degeneration but believed the alterations to be secondary to the 

 renal lesions. Neither desoxycorticosterone acetate nor whole adrenal ex- 

 tract influenced the course of the acute phase of choline deficiency. The 

 marked hyperactivity of the zona glomerulosa at the time of the renal 

 lesion was ascribed to altered electrolyte balance. 



The feeding of choline-deficient diets to adult rats removed the elevated 

 blood pressure resulting from partial nephrectomy in the experiments of 

 Handler and Bernheim. ACTH restored temporarily the hypertensive state 

 in these animals although it was without effect in normal controls, and it 

 was suggested that secretion of ACTH is impaired in choline-deficient rats.^^ 

 Adrenalectomy partially prevented fatty livers in male rats on a choline- 

 deficient diet, but there was little effect in females. ^^ 



Shipley et al. noted increased liver fat in female rats but not in males 

 after castration. ^^Testosterone propionate aggravated both renal and he- 

 patic lesions in female rats and hepatic lesions in male rats fed a low choline, 

 high fat diet.^^ Male rats had been found more susceptible than females to 

 severe, acute choline deficiency.' Castration of male rats caused a marked 

 reduction in blood lipid phosphorus in rats on a hypolipotropic diet.^^ 



Shipley reported that thyroidectomy prevented fatty livers in male and 

 female rats on a choline-deficient diet.^^ Handler, on the other hand, found 

 that removal of the thyroid or the feeding of thiouracil caused a small 

 increase in neutral fat and a marked increase of cholesterol in livers of both 

 control and choline-deficient rats.^^ 



85 E. M. MacKay and R. H. Barnes, Avi. J. Physiol. 118, 525 (1937); 120, 361 (1937). 

 8^ D. Stetten, Jr. and J. Salcedo, Jr., J. Biol. Chern. 156, 27 (1944). 



88 L. L. Bennett, R. E. Kreiss, C. H. Li, and H. M. Evans, Am. J. Physiol. 152, 210 

 (1948). 



89 C. H. Li, M. E. Simpson, and H. M. Evans, Arch. Biochem. 23, 51 (1949). 



"» E. A. Sellers, R. W. You. J. H. Ridout, and C. H. Best, Nature 166, 514 (1950). 



" P. Handler and F. Bernheim, Am. J. Physiol. 162, 375 (1950). 



92 R. A. Shipley, E. B. Chudzik, and P. Gyorgy, Arch. Biochem. 16, 301 (1948). 



9' W. J. Emerson, P. C. Zamecnik, and I. T. Nathanson, Endocrinology 48, 548 



(1951). 

 " R. Honorato and M. Modak, Bol. soc. biol. Santiago Chile 4, 24 (1947). 

 " P. Handler, /. Biol. Chem. 173, 295 (1948). 



