Summary
Young male rats were maintained on a basal diet containing 20% coconut oil with cholesterol added at 0, 0.25, 1 or 4% and cholic acid at 0, 0.25 or 0.5% weight. Determinations were made of plasma cholesterol and neutral glyceride levels throughout the regimen. After 10 weeks, the rats were killed and their livers, hearts, testes and adrenal glands were weighed. Histologic preparations were made from sections of livers, hearts and aortae. Analyses were made of liver lipids.
A decrease in food intake with concomitant lessening in body weight gain occurred when both cholesterol and cholic acid were added to the diet; simultaneously relative liver and adrenal weights were increased. A definite interaction was observed between the dietary cholesterol and cholic acid as evidenced by a considerable elevation in plasma cholesterol levels which showed a peak of 67–110% above the initial values at the 3rd week. No consistent alteration was seen in plasma neutral glyceride values. Both hepatic cholesterol levels and relative liver weights were increased as a result of feeding cholesterol and cholic acid. Liver cells sustained severe injury from fat infiltration. Myocardial cells, which were little affected from added cholesterol, became somewhat vaeuolated with areas of fiber degeneration when cholic acid was in the diet.
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Supported in part by Grant-in-Aid from The Nutrition Foundation, Inc.; State of Washington Initiative 171 Funds and USPHS Research Grant HD-02519 from the National Institutes of Health.
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Monsen, E., Knutson, C.T. & Rumery, R.E. The effects of graded dietary levels of cholesterol and cholic acid on plasma and hepatic lipids and histopathology of the young male rat. Int. Z. Angew. Physiol. Einschl. Arbeitsphysiol. 30, 269–282 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00696118
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00696118