Effect of diabetes on cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis in the rat aorta

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, Texas

The synthesis of cholesterol and fatty acids from acetate-1-C¹⁴ was studied in the aortas and livers of 42 diabetic rats and their normal controls. Hepatic cholesterol synthesis was significantly increased in 13, decreased in 13, and unchanged in 16 of the 42 animals. Fatty acid synthesis was depressed in the liver in 39 of the 42 diabetic rats. Aortic cholesterogenesis was increased in only 2 of the 13 aortas from the same rats showing elevated hepatic cholesterol synthesis. Fatty acid synthesis was depressed in 21 of 42 aortas from the diabetic group. It is concluded, therefore, that the aorta is relatively resistant to stimulation of cholesterol synthesis by diabetes even when hepatic cholesterol synthesis in the same animal is elevated. Lipogenesis on the other hand is commonly depressed in the aorta as well as the liver. Cholesterol was purified through dibrominization and both normal and diabetic aortas were shown to be capable of carrying cholesterol synthesis to completion.

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