Dietary phosphatidylcholine alleviates fatty liver induced by orotic acid

• Published in: Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.) Vol. 21; no. 7; pp. 867 - 873
• Main Authors: Buang, Yohanes, Wang, Yu-Ming, Cha, Jae-Young, Nagao, Koji, Yanagita, Teruyoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.07.2005; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Carnitine O-Palmitoyltransferase - genetics; Carnitine O-Palmitoyltransferase - metabolism; Cholesterol - blood; Diet; dietary fat; Enzymatic activity; fat intake; fatty acid composition; Fatty Acid Synthases - genetics; Fatty Acid Synthases - metabolism; Fatty acids; Fatty liver; Fatty Liver - chemically induced; Fatty Liver - drug therapy; Fatty Liver - enzymology; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; hepatomegaly; lipid metabolism; Lipid synthesis; Lipids; Liver - chemistry; Liver - drug effects; Liver - enzymology; liver function; Male; Organ Size - drug effects; Orotic acid; Orotic Acid - toxicity; Oxidation; Oxidation-Reduction; Phosphatidylcholine; phosphatidylcholines; Phosphatidylcholines - administration & dosage; Phosphatidylcholines - metabolism; Phosphatidylcholines - therapeutic use; Phospholipids - blood; Phospholipids - metabolism; Proteins; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Rodents; Triacylglycerol; triacylglycerols; Triglycerides - administration & dosage; Triglycerides - blood; Triglycerides - metabolism; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Japan; Phosphatidylcholine; Orotic acid; Lipid synthesis; Fatty liver; Triacylglycerol; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Digestive diseases; Hepatic disease; Lipids; Biosynthesis; Fatty acids
• ISSN: 0899-9007; 1873-1244
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nut.2004.11.019

We compared the effect of dietary phosphatidylcholine (PC) with that of triacylglycerol (TG), both with the same fatty acid profiles, on fatty infiltration in orotic acid (OA)-induced fatty liver of Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were fed an OA-supplemented diets containing TG (TG + OA group) or PC (20% of dietary lipid, PC + OA group) for 10 d. Rats fed the TG diet without OA supplementation served as the basal group. Administering OA significantly increased the weights and TG accumulation in livers of the TG + OA group compared with the basal group. These changes were attributed to significant increases in the activities of fatty acid synthase, malic enzyme, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, which are fatty acid synthetic enzymes, and phosphatidate phosphohydrolase, a rate-limiting enzyme of TG synthesis. However, the PC + OA group did not show TG accumulation and OA-induced increases of these enzyme activities. Further, a significant increase in the activity of carnitine palmitoyl transferase, a rate-limiting enzyme of fatty acid β-oxidation, was found in the PC + OA group. Dietary PC appears to alleviate the OA-induced hepatic steatosis and hepatomegaly, mainly through the attenuation of hepatic TG synthesis and enhancement of fatty acid β-oxidation in Sprague-Dawley rats.