Rats treated with six to eight doses (80 mg/kg, i.p.) of
4-pentenoic acid, an inhibitor of mitochondrial
fatty acid oxidation in vitro, during a 48-hr
starvation period developed microvesicular fatty infiltration of the liver similar to that observed in
Reye's Syndrome. Hepatic
triglycerides were elevated an average of 5-fold, although considerable variability was found between individual rats. Fed rats did not develop
fatty liver upon similar treatment with pentenoic
acid. Liver mitochondria isolated from rats with pentenoic
acid-induced
fatty liver showed a persistent inhibition of
fatty acid oxidation. Rates of oxidation of
palmitoylcarnitine and
decanoylcarnitine were decreased about 70%, while that of
octanoylcarnitine was decreased 50%.
Carnitine-independent oxidation of
octanoate was also inhibited. Oxidation rates for substrates other than
fatty acids, including
glutamate,
succinate,
pyruvate, and
alpha-ketoglutarate, were unaffected. Measurements of
flavoprotein reduction in intact mitochondria indicated that neither
palmitoylcarnitine nor
palmitoyl CoA plus
L-carnitine could elicit reduction of
acyl-CoA dehydrogenase and
electron transferring flavoprotein in mitochondria from rats with pentenoic
acid-induced
fatty liver. These results support a site of inhibition of mitochondrial beta-oxidation at the level of
acyl-CoA dehydrogenase for pentenoic
acid treatment in vivo, and they suggest a role for nutritional or hormonal factors in the metabolic disposition of pentenoic
acid in vivo and in the development of
fatty liver.