Hormonal Influences on Choline Concentrations in Rat Tissues

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Abstract
The concentrations of free choline and total lipld-bound choline in liver and kidney tissues of hormone-deficient rats were measured to test the hypothesis that the free choline concentration in tissues is cirtically related to the lipotropic and antihemorrhagic effects of choline. Hypophysectomized, thyroidectomized, adrenalectomized and gonadectomized male and female rats were used, as well as males which had been treated with antisera to [beta]-ICSH [interstitial cell stimulating hormone] and FSH [follicle-stimulating hormone]. Free choline and total lipid-bound choline were isolated from heated homogenates of liver and kidney tissue and determined spectrophotometrically as the periodides. The concentration of free choline in liver was increased, consistent with the hypothesis, in those hormone-deficient states, which have a lipotropic effect: hypophysectomy and adrenalectomy in males and females, and thyroidectomy in female rats. No increase in the free choline concentration in liver was observed in those states which do not have a lipotropic effect: gonadectomy in males and females, and thyroidectomy in male rats. The concentration of total lipid-bound choline of liver did not change in a uniform way consistent with the lipotropic effects of these hormone-deficient states. A similar correlation of the concentration of free choline in kidney and the antihemorrhagic effects of hormone-deficient states was not possible due to the scarcity of studies of hormones and hemorrhagic kidney degeneration. However, the free choline concentration in kidney was increased by adrenalectomy and thyroidectomy in males and by gonadectomy in male and female rats. The effect of administration of antisera to [beta]S-ICSH and FSH to males was very similar to that of gonadectomy. Twenty-two days after hypophysectomy, the free choline concentrations in the kidneys of male and female rats were decreased. Adrenalectomy in the female rat did not affect the kidney. Again, the concentration of total lipid-bound choline in the kidney was not changed in a consistent way by these hormone-deficient states.