Abstract
Our observation of the presence of an abnormal amount of fat in the livers of rats fed a diet high in protein was first made in a series of rats in which we were attempting to determine the stages of development of chronic nephritis. In rats placed on Liver Diet I and killed from 2 to 3 months later, we found that we could tell from the presence of fatty infiltration of the liver which rats were on the diet and which were not; whereas, we were unable to detect any difference between the kidneys of the rats on the Control or the Liver I diet. This observation led to a search for the cause of the phenomenal difference in the livers of the rats fed the 2 diets.
The livers of rats fed Liver Diet I contain very large amounts of cholesterol and fat but less than the normal amount of lecithin. The
values for cholesterol have ranged from 2.14 to 5.51% and those for total fatty acids minus lecithin from 9.48 to 11.48%. The values for lecithin have varied from 2.11 to 2.37%.
When the liver residue remaining after the aqueous extraction of the pernicious anemia fraction replaces the dried, whole liver in the above diet, there is no excessive deposition of fat in the liver, (Liver Diet IV). Likewise, when dried, whole liver extracted with hot 95% alcohol is fed, fatty livers are not found, (Liver Diet VII).
All of these diets are high in fat and protein and contain very small amounts of carbohydrate. Liver Diets I and IV contain about the same large quantities of cholesterol and lecithin, while Liver Diet VII is practically free of these substances.
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