Further studies on the lipid metabolism of the normal and vitamin B12-deficient chick embryo

1. The triglyceride, cholesterol ester and total phospholipid fractions were isolated from the livers and yolk sacs of normal and vitamin B₁₂-deficient chick embryos after 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 days of incubation, and the fatty acid compositions were determined. 2. At all stages of incubation, the concentration of cholesterol ester in the livers of the normal embryos were greater, and on days 15 and 17 the concentrations of triglyceride were considerably less, than the corresponding concentrations in the livers of the deficient embryos. 3. Between day 13 and day 21 of incubation the concentration of oleic acid in the liver triglycerides of the normal embryos increased, whereas the concentrations of palmitic acid and docosahexaenoic acid decreased. Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency resulted in higher concentrations of palmitic acid in the liver triglycerides on days 15, 17 and 19, higher concentrations of C₁₈ polyunsaturated acids on days 13 and 15 and lower concentrations of oleic acid on days 13, 15, 17 and 19. 4. At all stages of development, cholesterol oleate accounted for almost 80% of the total liver cholesterol esters in both normal and deficient embryos. 5. As development of the normal embryos progressed, the concentrations of palmitic acid and arachidonic acid in the liver phospholipid decreased, whereas the concentrations of stearic acid and docosahexaenoic acid increased. Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency resulted in markedly higher concentrations of stearic acid and palmitic acid and markedly lower concentrations of arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in the liver phospholipids. 6. Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency did not influence the fatty acid composition of the triglyceride, cholesterol ester and phospholipid fractions either in the yolks of fertile unincubated eggs or in the yolks obtained from eggs that had been incubated for 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 days.     

Further studies of the effects of an anovulatory drug on lipid metabolism in the rat

The effect of various levels of the oral contraceptive drug, Enovid E, on serum and liver lipid levels of adult female rats has been investigated. Doses ranging from 0.052 to 1.04 mg/day have been employed in rats fed control or cholesterol-containing diets. It has been confirmed that after administration of even low, physiological doses of the drug, esterified cholesterol in serum and adrenals decreases rapidly while at the same time it accumulates in the liver; cholesteryl oleate is increased while the relative amount of cholesteryl arachidonate is reduced. Serum phospholipids also are decreased; the alpha/beta lipoprotein ratio is significantly reduced due to the decrease of alpha-lipoproteins. Most of these changes also occur in cholesterol-fed rats. The observed effects are not related to a decreased food intake.     

Serum apolipoprotein B level and other parameters of lipid metabolism in patients after myocardial infarction

Total cholesterol, triglycerides, cholesterol HDL, and apolipoproteins B were determined in 117 patients including 87 patients with recent myocardial infarction. Cholesterol LDL was calculated from Friedewald-Frederickson 's equation. Calculated mean values of the above parameters of lipid metabolism were within normal values. In the group of patients with recent myocardial infarction the following subgroups were distinguished: male patients who under went myocardial infarction under 40 years of life (subgroup A), male patients who underwent myocardial infarction at the age over 40 years (subgroup B), and female patients (subgroup C). No statistically significant differences between male and female patients were noted. A sole lipid index differentiating subgroups A and B was serum apolipoprotein B level (1.5 g/L in subgroup A, and 1.16 g/L in subgroup B). Discrimination analysis has shown also a higher value of this parameter in distinguishing the subjects who underwent myocardial infarction in the young age.     

Nonuniform radiolabeling of VLDL apolipoprotein B: implications for the analysis of studies of the kinetics of the metabolism of lipoproteins containing apolipoprotein B

Radiolabeling of whole lipoproteins or individual apolipoproteins has been an essential tool for the determination of the kinetics of apolipoprotein metabolism in vivo. Mathematical analysis of specific radioactivity (SA) or total radioactivity data has demonstrated the existence of significant complexity in the plasma decay curves of several apolipoproteins. Results obtained during development of methods to study the metabolism of apolipoprotein B (apoB) in very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) subclasses isolated according to flotation (Sf) rates from whole radiolabeled (d less than 1.006 g/ml) VLDL suggested nonuniform radiolabeling of apoB in the three Sf subclasses being studied. We therefore determined apoB SA in VLDL Sf subclasses in ten hypertriglyceridemic and five normal subjects. After radioiodination of apoB in whole VLDL, different apoB SA were found in Sf 400-100, Sf 100-60, and Sf 60-20. The pattern of labeling was quite variable among subjects. On average, apoB SA in the VLDL tracer was greatest in Sf 400-100, and least in Sf 60-20. Nonuniform labeling could also be demonstrated in five studies in which samples were obtained 3 min after intravenous injection of the tracer into subjects with a wide range of plasma triglycerides. Nonuniform labeling of apoB in whole VLDL was also demonstrated in two of the subjects by isolating subclasses of their VLDL that did not bind to an anti-apolipoprotein E immunoaffinity column. These results indicate that the usual assumption of homogeneous labeling of apoB may be erroneous. We have derived a simple mathematical formula to study the consequences of this assumption in estimating kinetic parameters. It is shown that an erroneous assumption of homogeneous tracer labeling may significantly underestimate or overestimate the true production rate, even in a simple two-pool model. Identification of labeling characteristics and incorporation of this information into the mathematical analysis of the plasma radioactivity data can improve the accuracy of the analysis as well as the sensitivity of compartmental models generated by such data.     

Simultaneous effects of the apolipoprotein E polymorphism on apolipoprotein E, apolipoprotein B, and cholesterol metabolism.

Human apolipoprotein (apo) E is polymorphic. We have investigated the effect of the apo-E polymorphism on quantitative plasma levels of apo E, apo B, and total cholesterol in a sample of 563 blood-bank donors from Marburg and Giessen, West Germany. The relative frequencies of the epsilon 2, epsilon 3, and epsilon 4 alleles are .063, .793, and .144, respectively. The average effects of the epsilon 2 allele are to raise apo-E levels by 0.95 mg/dl, lower apo B levels by 9.46 mg/dl, and lower total cholesterol levels by 14.2 mg/dl. The average effects of the epsilon 4 allele are to lower apo-E levels by 0.19 mg/dl, to raise apo-B levels by 4.92 mg/dl, and to raise total cholesterol levels by 7.09 mg/dl. The average effects of the epsilon 3 allele are near zero for all three phenotypes. The apo-E polymorphism accounts for 20% of the variability of plasma apo-E levels, 12% of the variability of plasma apo-B levels, and 4% of the variability of total plasma cholesterol levels. The inverse relationship between the genotype-specific average apo-E levels and both the genotype-specific average apo-B and cholesterol levels is offset by a positive relationship between apo-E levels and both apo-B and cholesterol levels within an apo-E genotype. The apo-E polymorphism also has a direct effect on the correlation between apo-E and total cholesterol levels. The implication of these results on multivariate genetic analyses of these phenotypes is discussed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Further studies on the metabolism of glucose in the process of "glucose-bleaching" of Chlorella protothecoides

Previous studies have demonstrated that when cells of Chlorellaprotothecoides are incubated in a medium containing glucosebut no nitrogen source, they are profoundly bleached with degenerationof chloroplast structure and photosynthetic activity. When anitrogen source (urea) is added to the glucose medium, bleachingof algal cells is greatly suppressed. In this work the metabolismof glucose in the process of glucose-induced bleaching was studiedusing ¹⁴C-glucose as tracer. Changes in algal cell activityfor ¹⁴CO₂-evolution and ¹⁴C-incorporation into various cellularsubstances from ¹⁴C-glucose were followed. Most conspicuouswere increases in cellular activities for assimilating ¹⁴C-glucoseinto lipids (fatty acids) and glucose polymer. When urea wasadded to the glucose medium, the incorporation of ¹⁴C by algalcells into fatty acids was greatly reduced, while the assimilationof ¹⁴C into glucose polymer was increased. These and previous observations suggest that the formation oflarge amounts of lipids (fatty acids) probably is causally relatedto the induction of algal cell bleaching. (Received March 5, 1969; )