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myo-Inositol Metabolism during Lactation and Development in the Rat. The Prevention of Lactation-Induced Fatty Liver by Dietary myo-Inositol¹

Department of Biochemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824

Effects of dietary myo-inositol deprivation were examined during prenatal and postnatal development and during lactation in the rat. The deficient diet contained no detectable myo-inositol while the supplemented diet contained 0.5% (w/w) myo-inositol at the expense of sucrose. Both diets contained 25% casein, adequate amounts of all known vitamins, choline, and essential fatty acids as well as 0.5% (w/w) phthalylsulfathiazole to depress myo-inositol contribution to the diet by micro-organisms. Pregnant rats of the Holtzman strain were fed the respective diets during gestation and lactation, and pups were fed the corresponding diet after weaning until 3 months of age. There were no significant differences in body weight between experimental groups. Supplementation of the diet with myo-inositol significantly increased the levels of myo-inositol in plasma, liver, kidney, and intestine of pups at all ages examined, and significantly increased the levels of myo-inositol in the milk and mammary tissue during lactation. During lactation, the myo-inositol deprived dams developed severe fattv livers (31% w/w) characterized by diminished phosphatidyl-inositol (50%) and total phospholipid phosphorus (57%) levels as compared with controls. After weaning, the liver lipid content of the myo-inositol deprived dams returned to normal (4.5%). The data suggest that a possible threshold level of free myo-inositol (approximately 0.15 µmoles/g lipid-free tissue) was required to prevent fatty liver in lactating dams under these dietary conditions. Effects of the deficient diet on fertility were also examined. Based on sperm count and production of offspring, there were no differences between the experimental and control males. Females of both groups showed equal ability to produce offspring.

KEY WORDS: • myo-inositol deprivation • growth • lactation • fatty liver • intestinal flora • tissue lipid bound myo-inositol • fertility • 6-ß-galactinol

¹ This work was supported by Grant HD 06007, U.S. Public Health Service, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Article #7588. Results of preliminary studies were reported in Federation Proc. 36, 362, 1976.

² To whom inquiries should be addressed.

Manuscript received 1 March 1976.