Lipid content in the liver of fatty metamorphosis of pregnancy.

Lipid analyses were performed on the liver of a patient who died during an episode of acute fatty liver of pregnancy, and on livers from normal subjects and from subjects suffering from nutritional fatty livers. Comparison of these data indicates that in fatty liver of pregnancy the increased hepatic lipids consist primarily of free fatty acids. The recognized toxicity of fatty acids suggests a pathogenic mechanism for the disease. Nutritional fatty liver is associated predominantly with an increase in triglyceride. These changes are not the result of postmortem change, and they confirm and extend the previous data concerning the fat accumulation in human hepatic illness.