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Mechanism for Fatty Liver Induction in Rats Fed Arginine Deficient Diets¹

Department of Food Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801

Arginine deficiency is known to lead to marked alterations in pyrimidine biosynthesis and the excessive loss of urinary orotic acid. Orotic acid feeding is known to lead to hepatic steatosis. These studies show that arginine deficiency also results in a marked increase in liver lipids in the rat. The majority of the increased liver lipid can be accounted for by triglyceride accumulation. Increased liver lipid infiltration was found to be independent of the sex of the rat. Accompanying this increase was a decrease in serum triglycerides and cholesterol concentrations. Fatty infiltrations induced by arginine deficiency could be reversed by refeeding an arginine enriched diet. Adenine supplementation (0.30%) to the arginine deficient diet also completely prevented the induction of fatty livers. Adenine supplementation resulted in a dramatic increase in urinary orotic acid excretion in the arginine deficient rat. Guanine supplementation (0.5%) to an arginine deficient diet reduced but did not prevent the induction of fatty livers. The similarities of fatty livers induced by arginine deficiency and orotic acid feeding are discussed.

KEY WORDS: • arginine • lipids • triglycerides • orotic acid • adenine • guanine

¹ The author wishes to acknowledge the excellent technical assistance given to this project by Ms. Jean Gnaedinger and Mr. Mark Gronke. Supported in part by HEW PHS-AM9294 and the Illinois Agriculture Experiment Station.

Manuscript received 11 August 1978.