Effect of some dietary additions to either an arginine-devoid diet or a diet supplemented with orotic acid refed after starvation on liver lipid content during essential fatty acid deficiency in rats.

Refeeding either an arginine-devoid diet or a 14% casein diet supplemented with 1% orotic acid for 7 days to starved rats caused an increase in liver lipid content which was prevented by the addition of adenine, allopurinol and safflower oil, but not guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil. When rats were refed the arginine-devoid diet unsupplemented or supplemented with guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil, their serum triglyceride and cholesterol decreased or tended to decrease as compared with those of rats refed the arginine-devoid diet supplemented with either adenine or allopurinol or rats refed the arginine-supplemented diet. Furthermore, triglyceride and cholesterol in serum of rats refed the arginine-devoid diet supplemented with either adenine or allopurinol increased as compared with those of rats refed the arginine-supplemented diet. The addition of either adenine or allopurinol to the arginine-devoid diet resulted in lowered lipid content in the liver as compared with the arginine-supplemented diet. Thus, when the arginine-devoid diet unsupplemented or supplemented with arginine, adenine and allopurinol was refed, liver lipid content was inversely related to the serum triglyceride level.