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Quantitative and Qualitative Changes in Phospholipid in the Intestine of the Gerbil and the Development of Lipodystrophy¹

Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Female gerbils fed a diet containing 20% coconut oil develop an intestinal lipodystrophy that is not seen in animals fed a diet containing 20% safflower oil or a diet of 20% coconut oil supplemented with 0.1% inositol. The coconut oil diets contained 1.5% safflower oil to prevent essential fatty acid deficiency. The level of inositol in the intestinal tissue of animals fed the coconut oil diet not supplemented with inositol has been shown to be decreased. Phospholipid analyses of the intestinal tissue were undertaken to determine if this decrease in total inositol was reflected in a decrease in phosphatidylinositol or resulted in an altered phospholipid pattern. No difference in the phosphatidylinositol level was seen between animals fed 20% coconut oil with and without inositol supplementation (µg P/gut section), although animals fed coconut oil diets had lower levels of phosphatidylinositol than animals fed safflower oil diets. Fatty acid analyses of total phospholipid and phosphatidylinositol in gut tissue revealed that animals which developed the lesion had an altered phosphatidylinositol fraction with a depressed level of arachidonic acid and an elevated level of oleic acid. This suggests that the development of the intestinal lipodystrophy may be correlated with qualitative rather than quantitative changes in phosphatidylinositol.

KEY WORDS: • inositol • gerbil • phosphatidylinositol • arachidonic acid

¹ Supported in part by Public Health Service Research Grants (HL-12399) and K6-AM-18455) from the National Institutes of Health, and the Fund for Research and Teaching, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health.

² Present address: Clinical Pharmacology, Beth Israel Hospital, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215.

Manuscript received 12 April 1979.