Liver biochemical pathology of choline deficiency and of methyl group deficiency: a new orientation and assessment.

New information on the pathologic effects of a choline deficient diet in the rat, in relation to the biochemical events, has led to a new understanding and orientation of the pathogenesis of both acute and chronic consequences in the liver. The biochemical pathology of choline deficiency is quite different than that of methyl group (lipotrope) deficiency. These studies in our laboratory and elsewhere are generating new insights and hypotheses concerning the genesis of hepatocyte necrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in the rat fed a choline deficient diet.