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Hepatorenal Lesions in Rats Fed a Low Lipotrope Diet and Exposed to Aflatoxin^1,2,3,

Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

A diet low in methionine and choline was tested in rats to determine 1) the effect of a low lipotrope diet on DNA synthesis in the renal epithelium; 2) which of the lipotropes is most closely associated with the diet-associated renal lesion; and 3) the effect of superimposing aflatoxin, also associated with a renal lesion, on the low lipotrope diet. The low lipotrope diet caused a marked increase in DNA synthesis in the renal epithelium after 6 weeks but not after 3 weeks. Choline had the least beneficial effect on the renal lesion, whereas methionine was most effective in preventing it. When choline, methionine, and vitamin B₁₂ were all included in the diet at normal levels, the renal lesion was prevented. Aflatoxin had no appreciable effect on the diet-associated renal lesion but had a damaging effect on the livers of rats fed the low lipotrope diet. It was concluded that 1) DNA synthesis in the injured renal epithelium was increased rather than impaired; 2) methionine was more closely associated with the renal lesion than was either choline or vitamin B₁₂; and 3) aflatoxin had no appreciable effect on the renal lesion but resulted in a more severe liver response in rats fed the low lipotrope diet.

² Presented in part at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Chicago, 1967.

³ This manuscript is Contribution no. 1112 from the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Manuscript received 28 August 1967.