Comparative Changes in Liver Composition, Acetyl-CoA and Citric Acid during Fasting in Genetically Obese Hyperglycemic Mice (ob/ob) and Lean Littermates[*]

Abstract

Liver mass, cellularity, composition and content of acetyl-CoA and citrate were compared in obese hyperglycemic (ob/ob) mice and their lean littermates in the fed state and following 6, 15 and 72 hr of fasting. Hepatocytes from ob/ob animals were larger and more abundant at all times although they also sustained cytoplasmic shrinkage during fasting. As judged by sequential changes in the hepatic content of regulatory metabolites, transition from the fed to the fasted state occurs more slowly during dietary deprivation in livers of ob/ob mice than in their lean littermates.

ob/ob Mice - Fasting - Liver Cellularity - Citrate - Acetyl-CoA - Hyperglycemia

1 Supported in part by research grant AM-10699 and training grant AM-05071 from the National Institutes of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, Bethesda, Md.