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A Comparison of the Response of Woodchucks and Rats to Variations in Dietary Lipotrope and Protein Content^1,2,

Juanell N. Boyd^*,3, Wendy K. Sherman^*, Elizabeth S. Graham, Thomas C. Graham and Bud C. Tennant^*,4

^* Department of Clinical Sciences, New York State College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 Norwich-Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Norwich, NY 13815

Juvenile woodchucks and weanling Fisher F344 rats were fed purified diets with or without supplemental lipotropic factors (choline, methionine, folic acid and vitamin B-12). The diets contained 10 or 20% protein. Lower weight gain due to low protein was observed in both species, while lipotrope depletion resulted in lower gain in male rats only. Urinary excretion of formimino-glutamic acid was higher due to low lipotrope in both species, as was relative liver weight. In rats, lipotrope depletion resulted in hepatic fatty metamorphosis at both levels of dietary protein with the low protein diet resulting in more severe lesions. No liver lesions were observed in woodchucks fed low lipotropes at the higher level of dietary protein, but fatty metamorphosis was observed in those fed the lower protein diets. The lesion was more severe in the low lipotrope group. The woodchuck appears to be less sensitive than the rat to induction of fatty liver by lipotrope deficiency, although the lesion was induced by lowering dietary protein.

KEY WORDS: • choline • folic acid • methionine • vitamin B-12 • lipotrope • lipogenesis • hepatic injury • woodchuck

¹ This work was supported by Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute Grant Number CA-36160.

² A portion of this material was presented at the XIII International Congress of Nutrition, Brighton, U. K. in August 1985. Travel funds were provided, in part, by the American Institute of Nutrition.

³ Current address: Corning Glass Works, HP-ME-02-044, Corning, NY 14831.

⁴ To whom reprint requests should be directed.

Manuscript received 18 November 1985. Revision accepted 29 April 1986.