Dolichol and vitamin A content in rat liver Ito (perisinusoidal) cells.

Dolichol has been determined in many tissues but to date no data are available on liver Ito (fat storing) cells. In this note dolichol was determined in two subpopulations of liver Ito cells isolated from rats pretreated with vitamin A: Ito-1, vitamin A enriched and Ito-2, relatively poor of vitamin A. Differences were observed in the behaviour of the two fractions after vitamin A pretreatment of rats. In fact, in Ito-1 fraction dolichol increases with the increase of vitamin A, while in Ito-2 fraction it does not change significantly with the increase of vitamin A. These results, while confirming the heterogeneity of fat storing cells, are discussed as to the possible role of dolichol and vitamin A metabolism.