THE INFLUENCE OF DIETARY FAT ON THE LIVER LIPIDS OF THE RABBIT

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Abstract
Five groups of rabbits were given diets consisting of 80 parts of a semipurified basal mixture supplemented either with 20 parts of corn oil, 24 parts of butter, 20 parts of butter fat, 20 parts of hydrogenated coconut oil, or with 41.9 parts of starch plus 1 part of corn oil. After 9 months the rabbits were killed and the liver lipids analyzed by silicic acid chromatography. The fatty acids of the liver sterol esters, triglycerides, and phospholipids were analyzed by gas–liquid chromatography. Although there was considerable within-group variation in the concentration of certain of the lipid constituents it was clear that there was no deposition of cholesterol in the liver of the hypocholesterolaemic rabbits given the high corn oil diet. Changes in the fatty acid composition of the three lipid fractions analyzed were confined mainly to increases in the linoleic acid content with the high corn oil diet and to increases in the lauric and myristic acid contents with the hydrogenated coconut oil diet. In the cholesterol ester fraction these increases were balanced by decreases in the oleic acid content but in the triglyceride fraction they were balanced by decreases in the palmitic and palmitoleic acid contents.