A NEW MODEL OF ACUTE LIVER STEATOSIS INDUCED IN RATS BY FASTING FOLLOWED BY REFEEDING A HIGH-CARBOHYDRATE FAT-FREE DIET - BIOCHEMICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Background/Aims: Dietary habits are often considered to be responsible for fatty liver, a common histological finding in human liver biopsie s, The aim of the present work was to test the hypothesis that fasting followed by refeeding high carbohydrate-fat free diets in rats disrup ts hepatic lipid homeostasis, leading to liver lipid accumulation and morphological alterations, Methods: Male Wistar rats were fasted for 4 8 h, then refed an libitum with a high carbohydrate-fat free diet, Res ults: Six hours after refeeding, a slight microvacuolar steatosis, mai nly located in zone I was observed, whereas later on in the process, m acrovacuolar steatosis extended to all three zones of the hepatic lobu les, The present paper also contributes information on the mechanism o f fasting-high carbohydrate-fat free diet, diet-induced steatosis: we show that both circulating and de novo hepatic synthesized fatty acid availabilities are implicated in the disequilibrium between triglyceri de synthesis and secretion, Conclusions: The results are discussed, ta king into account the putative implication of carbohydrate-induced lip ogenesis in human fatty liver, occurring in non-insulin-dependent diab etic or obese patients.