Biochemical and ultrastructural hepatic changes during vitamin B₁₂ deficiency in animals and man

Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency has been shown to result in an increase in content and activity of the hepatic cytosolic enzymes of fatty acid synthesis. The present study demonstrated that ATP citrate lyase, an enzyme whose activity has been positively correlated with rates of fatty acid biosynthesis, also increased in the livers of B₁₂ deficient animals. Total and specific activity of hepatic citrate synthase, an enzyme whose activity is unaffected by a variety of dietary and hormonal changes, also was found to be increased in the B₁₂ deprived state. By contrast, the activity of hepatic succinate cytochrome c reductase, a portion of a multicomponent enzyme complex synthesized in part within the mitochondria, was unchanged in B₁₂ deficiency. Vitamin B₁₂ deprivation resulted in an increase in hepatic mitochondrial cristae membranes in both animals and man. Histochemical and chemical analysis demonstrated increased glycogen in the liver cells from B₁₂ deficient animals and man. Thus, in the livers from vitamin B₁₂ deficient animals there is an increased activity of the otherwise highly constant Krebs cycle enzyme citrate synthase, and in both animals and man there are increased mitochondrial cristae membranes.