Abstract
The marked fall in the ester cholesterol content of the serum during the height of acute infections observed in the preceding paper 1 is paralleled by a moderate drop in the plasma total fatty acids. Little significance has been attached to the changes which occur in the fatty acids of the blood in infection. However, recent interest in the unsaturated fatty acids in relationship to nutritional disorders has given stimulus to studies concerning the possible influence of acute infection on the unsaturation of the serum fatty acids. Investigations have been started. 2 , 3
This paper deals with a study including 12 children with acute infections. They are the same subjects which were carefully followed in the cholesterol study. All blood samples drawn during and after the febrile period were collected between 12 and 16 hours after a meal. The first blood sample was obtained on the sixth day of the disease, and the second blood sample on the ninth day of convalescence. Bloor's methods 4 were used to determine the blood lipids. The Rosenmund-Kuhnhenn method 5 as modified by Page, Pasternak and Burt 6 was used to determine the iodine absorption of the serum fatty acids.
The results from the study are shown in Tables I and II.
The iodine absorption values are definitely lower during the height of the disease. This change accompanied by a moderate fall in the total fatty acids yields an average iodine number of the serum fatty acids which is significantly lower during the febrile period of the illness than during the afebrile period of convalescence. This indicates that the serum fatty acids are less unsaturated in acute infection, thereby constituting a rather important factor to be considered in all investigations dealing with changes in the serum fatty acids.
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