The Requirement of Free Fatty Acids for the Fatty Liver of CCl 4 Intoxication ∗

Summary

Livers, isolated surgically from normal animals and from rats intoxicated with CCl_4, were perfused in vitro with a medium into which palmitic acid was infused continuously. Livers from normal rats were also treated with CCl₄ in vitro by direct addition of the chlorinated hydrocarbon to the medium. Under the conditions of these experiments, poisoning with CCl₄ resulted in inhibition of net release of triglyceride by the liver into the perfusate and simultaneous accumulation of triglyceride in the liver. These observations support the hypothesis that the fatty liver of CCl₄ intoxication results primarily from interference with the biochemical mechanisms involved in formation and release of the triglyceride in the very low density lipoprotein of the serum.