Abstract
Summary
Lipid analyses of erythrocytes from patients undergoing intravenous hyperalimentation therapy are presented herein. The amount of membrane cholesterol and phospholipid remained normal during the 4-month therapy and so did individual phospholipids. Phospholipid fatty acids, however, showed variations with a tendency toward increased percentages of palmitic and oleic acids and decreased percentages of linoleic and arachidonic acids. 5,8,11-Eicosatrienoic acid, characteristic of essential fatty-acid deficiency, increased markedly as the therapy progressed. Similar changes were observed in plasma fatty-acid phospholipids. The results suggested that during intravenous hyperalimentation, cell-membrane phospholipids became responsive to altered plasmalipid concentrations. The exchange of phospholipids between red blood cells and lipoproteins in man is less selective in essential fatty-acid deficiency resulting from intravenous hyperalimentation than from other causes.
The authors are very much indebted to Dr. D. Rudman, Dr. W. T. Millikan, and Mr. T. Richardson for making the patients available, providing blood samples, and assisting in any manner requested. Support by NIH grant RR-39 is gratefully acknowledged.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.