Liver lipids of rats administered excessive amounts of retinol

Abstract

Effect of intramuscular administration of 100 000 I.U. of retinol daily for 13 days on the liver lipid metabolism of young rats was studied. Intramuscular administration of excessive amounts of retinol did not affect the body weights or the daily food consumption. Retinol-treated rats showed a significant enlargement of the liver compared with controls. The values for liver total lipids, total cholesterol, total glycerides, total fatty acids, and retinol were 59.9 ± 0.9, 2.5 ± 0.1, 24.2 ± 1.3, 27.9 ± 1.8, and 1.35 ± 0.14 mg/g wet tissue, respectively, in retinol-treated compared with control values of 37.0 ± 0.9, 1.8 ± 0.06,9.5 ± 0.46, 17.6 ± 1.5, and 0.024 ± 0.008. The effect of excess retinol administration on liver neutral lipids and phospholipids was studied by thin-layer chromatography. Retinol administration caused significant increases in the concentrations of free cholesterol, esterifled cholesterol, monoglycerides, triglycerides, lysophosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylethanolamine, and significant decreases in the concentration of phosphatidylinositol.