Lipid metabolism in pregnancy.Perfusion of liver in pregnant rats

Abstract

Livers of pregnant or nonpregnant rats were perfused, and incorporation of 14C-acetate into lipids was studied.Total lipids were extracted from samples of perfusion medium, taken at the entrance and exit from the liver, at different time intervals, and from the liver homogenates at the end of the experiment.Time-course of the incorporation of 14C-acetate into different lipid classes from perfusion medium and liver tissue was compared for pregnant and nonpregnant rats.Radioactivity incorporation into circulant FFA and TG was higher in the control rats than in the pregnant animals.Contrariwise, there was a high incorporation of labelled fatty acids into phosphoglycerides in pregnant rats.There was an increase of unsaturated fatty acids of large carbon chain (24 : 1 and 22 : 6) in the perfusion media of pregnant liver.Moreover, the percentages of labelled fatty acids 16 : 1, 18 : 1 and 18 : 0 were higher in pregnant rats than in controls.