Fatty Acid Synthesis by Rat Liver after Chronic Ethanol Feeding with a Low-Fat Diet

1. Chronic alcohol feeding with a low-fat diet (4.4% total calories) produced a two- to three-fold increase in hepatic triacylglycerol and esterified cholesterol compared with pair-fed low-fat diet controls. Plasma lipids were similar in both groups.

2. Hepatic fatty acid synthesis rates measured in vivo with ³H₂O were significantly lower in the alcohol-fed animals than in controls. Activities of hepatic fatty acid synthase (EC 2.3.1.85) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (EC 6.4.1.2) were reduced in the alcohol-fed rats.

3. These results indicate that enhanced hepatic fatty acid synthesis does not occur in rats fed alcohol and a low-fat diet for 4 weeks, and is thus not implicated in the pathogenesis of alcohol-induced fatty liver.