A new model of acute liver steatosis induced in rats by fasting followed by refeeding a high carbohydrate-fat free diet. Biochemical and morphological analysis.
OBJECTIVE
Dietary habits are often considered to be responsible for fatty liver, a common histological finding in human liver biopsies. The aim of the present work was to test the hypothesis that fasting followed by refeeding high carbohydrate-fat free diets in rats disrupts hepatic lipid homeostasis, leading to liver lipid accumulation and morphological alterations.


METHODS
Male Wistar rats were fasted for 48 h, then refed ad libitum with a high carbohydrate-fat free diet.


RESULTS
Six hours after refeeding, a slight microvacuolar steatosis, mainly located in zone I was observed, whereas later on in the process, macrovacuolar steatosis extended to all three zones of the hepatic lobules. The present paper also contributes information on the mechanism of fasting-high carbohydrate-fat free diet, diet-induced steatosis: we show that both circulating and de novo hepatic synthesized fatty acid availabilities are implicated in the disequilibrium between triglyceride synthesis and secretion.


CONCLUSIONS
The results are discussed, taking into account the putative implication of carbohydrate-induced lipogenesis in human fatty liver, occurring in non-insulin-dependent diabetic or obese patients.
Delzenne
N M
NM
Departement de Sciences Pharmaceutiques, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. delzenne@bctc.ucl.ac.be
Hernaux
N A
NA
Taper
H S
HS
D000208:Acute Disease; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D018752:Diet, Fat-Restricted; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005215:Fasting; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates