Fatty liver of growing rats fed excess lysine and its prevention by adenine or allopurinol

Weanling male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed ad libitum 15% casein diets with and without 5.0% lysine-HCl, 0.25% adenine sulfate or 0.1% allopurinol for 2 weeks. Addition of lysine alone depressed 2-week growth from 94 to 65 g, increased average daily urinary orotic acid excretion from 0.39 to 1.77 mg and increased the percentage of total liver lipids from 3.6 to 11.2. Adenine or allopurinol did not change growth but markedly enhanced lysine-induced orotic aciduria and completely prevented lysine-induced fatty livers. Reports by others show that adenine and allopurinol also prevent fatty livers of rats fed arginine-free diets or excess orotic acid. The authors conclude that lysine-induced orotic aciduria results from arginine deficiency caused by antagonism of arginine function by lysine, and that lysine-induced fatty liver probably results from a lesion identifical to that produced by feeding excess orotic acid.