Abstract
The development of micromethods for the determination of the individual phospholipids, lecithin, cephalin and sphingomyelin 1 has made possible investigations of the phospholipid distribution in blood. Characteristic patterns for the phospholipid partition among the 3 separate fractions appear to exist for normal plasma, erythro-cytes and tissues, 1 however, preliminary analyses presented in this paper demonstrate that certain anomalies occur in pernicious anemia and lipemia.
A marked reduction of the total phospholipid in plasma is a salient feature in pernicious anemia. 2 That some abnormality in the type of phospholipids likewise occurs has been indicated by lowered recoveries of the phospholipid with petroleum ether, following evaporation of the alcohol-ether extracts in air. 3 In view of data which showed that diminished recoveries accompanied lower fatty acid carbon: phosphorus ratios of the precipitated phospholipids (theoretical ratios for lecithin, cephalin and sphingomyelin being 13.9, 13.9 and 7.4, respectively) a higher proportion of sphingomyelin in pernicious anemia was indicated. Recent data from this laboratory have demonstrated that both lecithin and sphingomyelin may be refractory to petroleum-ether extraction under certain conditions, whereas cephalin is extracted completely. 1
The data given in the table were obtained on petroleum-ether extracts prepared under carefully controlled conditions of evaporation of the preliminary alcohol-ether extracts which effect a far more complete recovery of the phospholipids 4 and confirm the marked reduction of total plasma phospholipid in pernicious anemia. 2 This decrease is reflected in all three phospholipid components. With treatment and partial relief of the anemia the total phospholipid content of the plasma is raised, accompanied by corresponding increases in lecithin and sphingomyelin, but with a decrease in cephalin content. When complete remission is attained the total phospholipid is above normal; both cephalin and sphingomyelin are likewise elevated to levels far above normal, whereas the absolute amount and proportion of lecithin is conspicuously diminished.
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