Methionine Deficiency and Fatty Liver in Male and Female Rats. ∗

Abstract

Summary

Male and female rats were made deficient in methionine by force-feeding a methionine-free diet for 10 days. Female, but not male rats developed fatty livers, evidenced by an increase solely in triglycerides. There was no evidence of increased fatty acid synthesis by the deficient animals, as estimated by acetate-2-C¹⁴ incorporation studies, or by dilution of the triglyceride linoleic acid. Deficient female rats, however, had significantly lower serum cholesterol and phospholipid levels than did controls. The results suggest that methionine-deficient female rats developed fatty livers principally