Lipid accumulation in liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys of miniature-pigs after chloroquine treatment

Abstract
Chronic chloroquine [a drug used in the treatment of malaria and rheumatoid diseases] treatment of type-Goettingen miniature pigs induced lipid accumulation in the liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys. The lipid analyses showed marked quantitative and qualitative differences between the organs. In the liver the lipids most affected were cholesteryl esters and glucosylceramides, which were increased by as much as 20 times. Cholesterol and ganglioside concentrations were less markedly increased. The concentration of acidic phospholipids was slightly increased, but that of the neutral phospholipids was unaffected. There was a considerable inter-individual variation in the lipid changes. Spleen and lung showed significant increases of all the major lipids. Glucosylceramide was increased more than the other lipids, i.e., 6-fold in the spleen and 10-fold in the lung. The concentration of acidic phospholipids as well as that of gangliosides was increased by 50% in the spleen and by 100% in the lung. The organ least affected was the kidney, in which only the glycolipids, both acidic and neutral, were significantly increased. Common to all the organs of the chloroquine-treated pigs was the large increase of glucosylceramide, ganglioside GM2 and bis(monacylglyceryl)phosphate. The ganglioside increase affected all the individual gangliosides and, except for the increased proportion of ganglioside GM2, there were no remarkable changes in the ganglioside pattern in any of the organs.

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