Effect of Diet and Substrate on the In Vitro Measurement of Cholesterol and Fatty-Acid Synthesis in Hepatic Tissue of Japanese Quail

ABSTRACT A comparison of acetate, glucose, mevalonate, or water as radioactive substrates for the hepatic synthesis of cholesterol, fatty acids, and glyceride-glycerol was made in Japanese quail fed diets containing either beef fat or tuna oil. The quail fed a diet containing beef fat were fatter and had a significantly higher (P<.01) concentration of serum cholesterol (5.6 mM per L) than that measured in the serum of quail given tuna oil (4.1 mM per L). Both in vitro cholesterol and fatty-acid synthesis were greater in the quail fed a diet of beef fat than in those fed a diet containing tuna oil. The results showed that mevalonate was the most-suitable radioactive substrate for measuring cholesterol synthesis, whereas glucose was the most-suitable radioactive substrate for measuring fatty-acid and glyceride-glycerol synthesis