Effect of amitriptyline or phenobarbital on the activities of the enzymes involved in rat liver.

Abstract

The effect of phenobarbital (PB) or amitriptyline (AMT) on phospholipid metabolism was studied in rat liver. Administration of PB or AMT caused a marked increase in the microsomal phosphatidylcholine (PC) content. In this context, the activities of glycerophosphate acyltransferase (GAT), phosphatidate cytidylyltransferase (PCT), phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PPH) and choline phosphotransferase (CPT) in the liver were all increased by PB. In contrast, the activities of GAT and PCT were little affected by AMT, while those of PPH and CPT were significantly increased by AMT. These findings suggest that AMT or PB would increase hepatic microsomal PC synthesis through inducing PPH and then CPT.