Effects of dietary fats on the activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase and sterol synthesis in the liver of fasted-refed rats.

The time course of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase activity and lipogenesis and cholesterogenesis from 1-14C-acetate and 2-14C-mevalonate was examined in the liver of rats refed diets containing different fats at the 10% level after 48 hr fasting. Fasting caused a profound depression of the reductase activity and sterol and fatty acid synthesis. In rats refed for 30 hr, the activity of HMG-CoA reductase was restored to about one-half of the level observed in prefasting rats, irrespective of the type of dietary fats. When safflower oil and trilaurin were dietary fats, the activity remained this level until 78 hr, then declined, whereas with tristearin, activity progressively increased until 78 hr. On refeeding for 174 to 222hr, the reductase activity was significantly higher in the tristearin than in the trilaurin group. Similar patterns were demonstrated in cholesterogenesis either from acetate or mevalonate, though extents of activation after refeeding were markedly different in these precursors. Dietary fat dependent changes in the content of hepatic cholesterol and in the concentration of plasma cholesterol were also observed.