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Tissue Content and Metabolism of myo-Inositol in Normal and Lipodystrophic Gerbils¹

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

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of diet and sex difference on the development of an intestinal lipodystrophy due to myo-inositol deficiency. Tissue contents of free and lipid-bound myo-inositol as well as the activities of L-myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase (EC 5.5.1.4) and phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.25), and myo-inositol oxygenase (EC 1.13.99.1) were determined in male and female gerbils under various conditions. The enzyme study proved that the essentiality of dietary myoinositol for this species was not due to the lack of such enzyme activity. The lower susceptibility of male gerbils to myo-inositol deficiency could be explained by the contribution of the biosynthesis of myo-inositol in the testis, as shown by a difference between intact and castrated animals. Although feeding coconut oil to the myo-inositol-deficient female gerbils produced greater myo-inositol depletion as well as a more severe intestinal lesion than the feeding of safflower oil, the difference in myo-inositol status could be only in part responsible for different degrees of lipodystrophy. Additionally, neither dietary type of fat nor exogenous myo-inositol altered the activities of either hepatic or intestinal synthase and phosphatase, or kidney oxygenase. Thus, this study indicates that both sex and dietary factors might influence myo-inositol status to varying extents, but the diet-induced change in tissue myo-inositol was not reflected by the enzyme activity as measured in vitro.

KEY WORDS: • myo-inositol • intestinal lipodystrophy • dietary fat • myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase • myo-inositol-1-phosphatase • myo-inositol oxygenase

¹ This research was supported by Public Health Service Research Grant HL-12399 from the National Institutes of Health, and the Fund for Research and Teaching. Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health.

Manuscript received 24 June 1982.

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