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Vitamin B₁₂, Choline and Related Substances in Dietary Hepatic Injury in Rats¹

Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology, Philadelphia General Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Louis D. Beaumont Memorial Research Laboratories, Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio

Choline and, to an even greater extent, methionine, were much less effective in preventing fatty infiltration of the liver in rats when given pair-fed as separate supplements than when mixed with the basal hypolipotropic diet; the basal diet contained a mixture of methanol-extracted peanut meal and casein, or peanut meal alone, as source of protein, with which young animals showed satisfactory initial gain in weight. These observations applied also to weight gain, food efficiency ratio and relative liver weight. The reduced beneficial effect of methionine given as separate supplement extends also to ceroid formation and fibrosis. The differences were less marked with vitamin B₁₂ and became apparent only when vitamin B₁₂ was given as a separate supplement to the ration containing the extracted peanut meal alone as source of protein. Vitamin B₁₂ was comparable to choline in preventing fibrosis, but its lipotropic effect was weaker than that of choline or methionine (mixed with the diet). With the basal hypolipotropic ration containing casein and extracted peanut meal, vitamin B₁₂ promoted growth, reduced the liver fat and prevented cirrhosis, even in the absence of folic acid. Anemia observed in rats fed the basal hypolipotropic diet was not prevented by homocystine, but was substantially improved by choline, methionine and vitamin B₁₂ and to a somewhat less extent by cystine. Vitamin B₁₂ stimulated growth even in animals receiving methionine, or homocystine and cystine in addition to choline. The relative liver weight was, in general, lowest in groups receiving vitamin B₁₂, in spite of higher fat content of the liver. The conclusion appears to be warranted that vitamin B₁₂ acts not only by sparing lipotropic factors, or enhancing their synthesis, but also through other mechanisms.

² Present address: SEATO Medical Research Laboratories, Bangkok, Thailand.

³ Present address: Children's Hospital, Akita City, Japan.

⁴ Present address: Department of Pediatrics, University of Rome, Rome, Italy.

Manuscript received 6 February 1967.