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Choline: critical role during fetal development and dietary requirements in adults.

Choline is an essential nutrient needed for the structural integrity and signaling functions of cell membranes; for normal cholinergic neurotransmission; for normal muscle function; for lipid transport from liver; and it is the major source of methyl groups in the diet. Choline is critical during fetal development, when it influences stem cell proliferation and apoptosis, thereby altering brain and spinal cord structure and function and influencing risk for neural tube defects and lifelong memory function. Choline is derived not only from the diet, but from de novo synthesis as well. Though many foods contain choline, there is at least a twofold variation in dietary intake in humans. When deprived of dietary choline, most men and postmenopausal women developed signs of organ dysfunction (fatty liver or muscle damage), while less than half of premenopausal women developed such signs. Aside from gender differences, there is significant variation in the dietary requirement for choline that can be explained by very common genetic polymorphisms.

Brain↗

Vascular dysfunction in monkeys with diet-induced hyperhomocyst(e)inemia.

Elevated plasma homocyst(e)ine may predispose to complications of vascular disease. Homocysteine alters vasomotor regulatory and anticoagulant properties of cultured vascular endothelial cells, but little is known about effects of hyperhomocyst(e)inemia on vascular function in vivo. We tested the hypothesis that diet-induced moderate hyperhomocyst(e)inemia is associated with vascular dysfunction in cynomolgus monkeys. Plasma homocyst(e)ine increased from 4.O +/- O.2 microM when monkeys were fed normal diet to 10.6 +/- 2.6 microM when they were fed modified diet (mean +/- SE; P = 0.02). Vasomotor responses were assessed in vivo by quantitative angiography and Doppler measurement of blood flow velocity. In response to activation of platelets by intraarterial infusion of collagen, blood flow to the leg decreased by 42 +/- 9% in monkeys fed modified diet, compared with 14 +/- 11% in monkeys fed normal diet (P = 0.008), Responses of resistance vessels to the endothelium-dependent vasodilators acetylcholine and ADP were markedly impaired in hyperhomocyst(e)inemic monkeys, which suggests that increased vasoconstriction in response to collagen may be caused by decreased vasodilator responsiveness to platelet-generated ADP. Relaxation to acetylcholine and, to a lesser extent, nitroprusside, was impaired ex vivo in carotid arteries from monkeys fed modified diet. Thrombomodulin anticoagulant activity in aorta decreased by 34 +/- 15% in hyperhomocyst(e)inemic monkeys (P = 0.03). We conclude that diet-induced moderate hyperhomocyst(e)inemia is associated with altered vascular function.

Animals↗

Preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions in the pancreas of rats fed choline-devoid or choline-supplemented diets.

Groups of male Fischer 344 rats were chronically fed semipurified choline-devoid or choline-supplemented diets, high in fat (15%), and containing or not containing 0.06% phenobarbital. Atypical acinar cell nodules were observed in the pancreas of the rats, irrespective of the diet fed, with incidences varying from 38% to 100% in the various groups. No consistent differential effects of the dietary treatments on the incidence and growth of the nodules were evident, even though the diameter of the nodules tended to be greater in some of the groups fed the basal choline-devoid diet. The vast majority of the nodules were of the acidophilic type. More advanced pancreatic acinar cell lesions were observed in a few of the rats. Since the rats were not exposed to a chemical carcinogen(s), development of the nodules and of the more advanced lesions, even in rats fed the control diets, was most likely due to evolution of endogenous (spontaneous) initiated pancreatic cells, promoted primarily by the feeding of semipurified diets with a high fat content.

Animals↗

Modulation of tumor promotion in liver carcinogenesis.

Earlier, we demonstrated that feeding to rats a diet devoid of choline, a lipotropic factor, markedly enhances hepatoma induction by several chemical carcinogens, and that the diet acts as a strong promoter of the evolution of initiated cells to foci of altered hepatocytes. The ability of several factors to modulate the action of the choline-devoid (CD) diet as a promoter was investigated by quantitating the foci of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase-positive hepatocytes developed in rats exposed to a single injection of diethylnitrosamine. Addition to the diet of phenobarbital (PHB) resulted in a promoting action stronger than those of the CD diet or of PHB alone. Two other barbiturates, amobarbital (AMB) and pentobarbital (PTB) exerted an effect similar to that of PHB, while barbituric acid (BA) had no effect. In other studies, lowering the fat content of the CD diet reduced its efficacy as a promotor, while the addition of a hypolipidemic agent, BR931, 4-chloro-6-(2,3 xylidino)-2-pyrimidinylthio (N-beta-hydroxy-ethyl)acetamide, completely abolished the promoting action of the CD diet. In rats not exposed to carcinogen, feeding the CD diet caused a marked enhancement of liver DNA synthesis and of cell proliferation. Inclusion of PHB, PTB or AMB in the CD diet inhibited these effects, while BA exerted no inhibition. The increased rate of DNA synthesis and cell proliferation in the liver were not affected by the level of fat in the CD diet. These results suggest that beside a stimulation of liver cell proliferation, other factor(s) determine the efficacy with which a CD diet exerts its promoting action.

Animals↗

Anomalous erythrocytes produced by rabbits with liver damage.

Rabbit "stress macroreticulocytes" complete their membrane sialic acid content after a short "homing" in the liver. Since also normal rabbit reticulocytes are characterized by a low membrane sialic acid, the role of the liver in the maturation of these cells was investigated. For this purpose red cell modifications consequent to a severe liver steatosis, induced in rabbits by a diet lacking choline, were investigated. Animals with liver damage showed severe anemia and red cell membranes were demonstrated to have a low sialic acid content. Moreover rabbits with severe fatty liver, unlike normal animals, were not able to restore the viability of desialylated normal young erythrocytes. On the basis of these and others evidences we suggest that rabbit liver plays an important role in physiological maturation of reticulocytes.

Animals↗