Dietary arachidonic acid reduces fatty liver, increases diet consumption and weight gain in ethanol-fed rats.

We fed young male Sprague-Dawley rats for 4 wk ad libitum liquid diets containing 34% of the calories as ethanol and 35% as fat with (AA+) and without (AA-) arachidonic acid (20:4). Additional rats in the control groups were fed similar diets made isocaloric with dextrose with (CA+) and without (CA-) 20:4. The liver triglyceride (TG) content of rats in the AA+ group was reduced ca. 3-fold over that of rats in the AA-group. The diet consumption and body wts of rats in the AA+ group were significantly greater than those of rats fed alcohol without the 20:4 supplement (AA-). Also livers from rats in the AA+ group were as large as those from rats in control groups (CA+, CA-) and ca. twice as large as those from rats in the AA-group. The fatty acid composition of liver TG in rats fed the alcohol diet was similar to that of dietary fat. Levels of 20:4 and docosatetraenoic acid (22:4) in liver TG fatty acids from rats fed diets without arachidonate (AA-, CA-) were low (trace to 1.6%). After ingestion of arachidonic acid, 20:4 increased to ca. 10% and 22:4 to ca. 5%. The content of liver phospholipids was higher in livers of rats fed ethanol (AA-) than in those of controls (CA-).