Drugs and Lipid transport

Drugs such as ethanol, carbon tetrachloride, ethionine or ACTH have a profound influence on lipid metabolism. The enzymatic synthesis of triglycerides and phospholipids by the liver, the release of triglycerides from liver to plasma and the transport of free fatty acids from adipose tissue are affected. These changes in lipid metabolism may be considered as resulting from chemically induced stress. In order to study the transport of lipids during a stress not induced by drugs, cold stress was also investigated. The changes in lipid transport following ethanol or ACTH administration were quite different from those observed during cold stress where body temp must be maintained by mobilization of energy producing substrates. However, the alterations in lipid transport during both cold and drug induced stress are dependent on the sex of the rat. The observed effects apparently involve a sexdependent transport of triglycerides from liver to plasma and also a sex‐dependent mobilization of energy‐producing substrates.