Alterations in lipid metabolism produced by ethyl trichloracetate

Rats maintained on a choline deficient diet and treated with subcutaneous doses of ethyl trichloracetate responded by increasing plasma beta-lipoprotein and plasma triglyceride levels while excess triglyceride was being removed from the liver. There was a transient depression in plasma phospholipid at the beginning of the treatment. Continued administration of ethyl trichloracetate raised plasma triglyceride in choline depleted rats and raised hepatic phospholipid concentration in both choline deficient and supplemented rats. It is suggested that the lipotropic action of ethyl trichloracetate occurs through hepatic triglyceride being removed by the altered plasma lipids and not by inhibition of hepatic triglyceride synthesis.