pantetheine and Fatty-Liver

Although the prognosis of fatty liver depends on its causes, we feel from our clinical experience that fatty liver with hypertriglyceridemia has a good prognosis and responds well to treatment. In this study, 600 mg/day of pantethine was administered to 16 outpatients with fatty liver and hypertriglyceridemia for six months or longer to examine whether the drug improved fatty liver using abdominal plain computed tomography (CT). Nine of the 16-pantethine patients were no longer diagnosed as having fatty liver after the study period. An chi2 test indicated the significant disappearance of fatty liver. At the same time, the visceral fat calculated from the CT image passing the umbilical region was also significantly reduced. On the contrary, the subcutaneous fat area tended to increase, so the ratio of the visceral-to-subcutaneous fat area was reduced significantly. This indicates triglycerides may be pooled in the body as hepato-visceral fat and subcutaneous fat, and that pantethine may transfer fat from the liver and viscera to the subcutaneous tissue. This suggests that visceral fat deposition and fatty liver occurring with hypertriglyceridemia may have a common basis, probably excessive matrixes, and that pantethine may simultaneously improve the two conditions.

Topics: Abdomen; Aged; Case-Control Studies; Fatty Liver; Female; Humans; Liver; Male; Middle Aged; Pantetheine; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Rats were maintained on fat-free high carbohydrate diets either with or without orotic acid (1%, w/w), pantethine (1%, w/w), adenine (0.25%, w/w), and/or p-chlorophenoxyisobutyrate (0.25%, w/w). Oxidation of fatty acid by liver mitochondria was inhibited to less than half that of the control after administration of orotic acid. Activities of acyl-CoA dehydrogenases were markedly decreased by orotic acid administration, but the following enzyme activities were not, or only slightly decreased: acyl-CoA synthetase, carnitine acyltransferases, enoyl-CoA hydratase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase and 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase. Simultaneous addition of pantethine in the orotic acid-containing diet prevented induction of fatty liver. It also prevented decreases in fatty acid oxidation capacity and acyl-CoA dehydrogenase activity. Introduction of adenine or p-chlorophenoxyisobutyrate, which reverse orotic acid-induced fatty liver, reversed oxidation and acyl-CoA dehydrogenase activities to control levels. The oxidation capacity of the peroxisomal system remained unchanged after administration of orotic acid.

Topics: Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenases; Adenine; Animals; Clofibric Acid; Diet; Fatty Acids; Fatty Liver; Male; Mitochondria, Liver; Orotic Acid; Oxidation-Reduction; Pantetheine; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains