Effect of Vitamin A Deficiency on Mitochondrial Lipids on Rat Liver

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Abstract
A study was made to determine the effect of vitamin A deficiency on mitochondrial lipids in the livers of young rats. The purified basal diet, which contained 18% casein and 10% stripped lard, was fed with no added vitamin A, or with 5 mg vitamin A acetate/kg. Some of the vitamin A-supplemented rats were pair-fed with deficient rats to obviate the effect of inanition. After 42 to 60 days, weight loss characteristic of vitamin A deficiency occurred; animals were then killed and liver mitochondrial lipids were analyzed. Cholesterol and triglycerides from vitamin Adeficient animals were significantly higher than those of corresponding pair-fed animals and controls fed ad libitum. The deficient rats also showed a significant decrease in liver mitochondrial lipid phosphorus and total lipid. Mitochondrial lipids from the pair-fed controls were significantly higher in arachidonic and linoleic acids when compared with deficient rats or with controls whose food intake was not restricted. Vitamin deficient rats and pairfed controls had significantly less palmitoleic acid in their mitochondrial lipids than did control rats fed ad libitum.