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Mild Pantothenate Deficiency in Rats Elevates Serum Triglyceride and Free Fatty Acid Levels¹

Carl T. Wittwer^*, Sullivan Beck^**, Matt Peterson^**, Robert Davidson^**, Dana E. Wilson and R. Gaurth Hansen^**

^* Department of Pathology Department of Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84132 ^** Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322

Pantothenate-derived coenzymes are extensively involved in intermediary metabolism, particularly in the metabolism of lipids. Using a rat model of diet-induced pantothenate deficiency, we hoped in this study to relate pantothenate status, as indicated by serum pantothenate and hepatic coenzyme A, to levels of circulating triglycerides and free fatty acids. Although commercial "vitamin-free" casein contained 3 mg total pantothenate per kilogram, marked changes in serum pantothenate and hepatic CoA still occurred during weeks when rats were fed purified diets supplemented with 0 to 1600 mg pantothenate per kilogram of diet. Conditions in different experiments included ad libitum or pair-feeding of 3- or 6-wk-old rats and blood sampling from 3 to 24 h after feeding. Under most conditions of mild pantothenate deficiency in which weight differences between groups were not statistically significant, serum triglyceride and free fatty acid levels were significantly elevated in pantothenate-deficient groups. Mild pantothenate deficiency appears to have observable in vivo effects on triglyceride metabolism before severe deficiency causes significant weight loss.

KEY WORDS: • pantothenic acid • coenzyme A • rats • triglycerides • free fatty acids

¹ This work was supported by a grant from the Nora Eccles Tread-well Foundation.

Manuscript received 15 August 1989. Revision accepted 8 January 1990.