title: Hepatic steatosis in artificially fed marine teleosts.
abstract: In a comparison of livers in fish (Sparus auratus and Dicentrarchus labrax) feeding on natural sources of food with livers of artificially fed animals, a much higher C18:1/C22:6 ratio was observed in the latter. Staining livers with oil red O showed extensive steatosis in artificially fed fish, but not in those naturally fed. Juvenile artificially fed fish showed a more extensive steatosis and a higher mortality rate. In steatotic fish fed a natural diet for 2 months, the liver exhibited extensive regeneration and only a few steatotic areas remained. Marine teleosts do not appear to have a proliferative response of peroxisomes and this is likely to contribute to liver lipid accumulation and subsequent steatosis. It is suggested that an excess of C18:1 (or other mono-unsaturated fatty acids), coupled with a lack of adaptive peroxisomal proliferation, is the primary cause of lipid droplet formation leading to hepatic steatosis.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Experimental Biology, University of Bologna, Italy, 2 Valle Smarlacca, Ravenna, Italy, 3 Department of Biochemistry, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spisni
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tugnoli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ponticelli
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mordenti
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tomasi