Effects of the type of dietary fat at two levels of vitamin E in Wistar male rats during development and aging. III. Biochemical and morphometric parameters of the liver.

The purpose of this study was to explore in rats the possible influence of the type of dietary fat at two extreme levels of vitamin E on several biochemically determined hepatic changes and on a number of quantitatively analyzed structural and ultrastructural variations with age in hepatic cells. Six groups of weanling Wistar male rats were fed ad libitum isoenergetic diets containing similar amounts (15 g per 100 g diet) of saturated fat (coconut oil), unsaturated fat (safflower oil) or a combination of both at two levels of dl-alpha-tocopherol (2 or 200 mg per 100 g of diet). Determinations were performed in rats killed at 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. Although in relation to age and irrespective of the type of diet, several of the biochemical parameters fluctuated with time, comparisons of the results between the youngest and oldest rats showed no changes in the levels of hepatic RNA, phospholipids, cholesterol, total tocopherols and total collagens, significant increases in DNA and triglycerides and a significant decrease in total protein. While the type of diet did not have in general significant influences on the levels of DNA, RNA, total protein and collagens, either the type of dietary fat and/or the levels of vitamin E had some definite effects on the levels of triglycerides, cholesterol, phospholipids and total tocopherols, as well as on the in vitro formation of malonaldehyde and on the eventual occurrence of in vivo lipoperoxidation (diene conjugation). These effects, however, varied in relation to the duration of the diverse dietary treatments. The morphologic studies indicated that all the livers had variable but generally moderate degrees of fatty changes (mainly due to triglyceride accumulation) which were attributed to the moderate obesity found in the rats. The mean nuclear and cell dimensions of hepatocytes, the number of binucleated hepatocytes, surface density of rough endoplasmic reticulum, numerical density of mitochondria and the fractional cytoplasmic volume occupied by lipofuscin pigment in hepatocytes were not significantly affected by the type of diet, by age or by the eventual occurrence of in vivo hepatic lipoperoxidation, whereas the numerical density of hepatocytes (mono- and binucleated) and "litoral cells" (endothelial, Kupffer and Ito cells), although unaffected by diet, significantly increased with age. On the other hand, the fractional volume of mitochondria and peroxisomes, as well as the numerical density of peroxisomes, were significantly influenced by the type of dietary fat and to lesser extent by the dietary levels of vitamin E.