Abstract
The oral administration of soybean lecithin has previously been reported to lower the serum cholesterol of man 1 and cholesterolfed rabbits 2 . The present study was initiated when preliminary experiments revealed that incubation of human serum. after addition of a fat emulsion prepared for intravenous administration. caused a shift of lipid from beta-globulin to alpha-globulin. as determined by paper electrophoresis. Because lecithin was used as a stabilizer in the fat emulsion, this phenomenon was investigated further using soybean phosphatides. The effects of not only the whole phosphatide complex, but also the alcohol-soluble and the alcoholinsoluble fraction were investigated.
Material and methods. 1. Exp. A-Whole Phosphatide Complex. A purified extract of natural soybean phosphatidest containing approximately equal quantities of lecithin, cephalin and lipositol was used as follows: Five mg of soybean phosphatides were dissolved in 1 or 2 ml of sera from 6 normal subjects in the pust-absorptive state. In a similar manner, 10 or 20 mg of the phosphatide complex were dissolved in the sera of 5 patients with hyperlipemia.: Serum aliquots without added phosphatide served as controls. The control sera and sera with added phosphatide were immediately streaked on filter paper strips far electrophoretic analysis, which was promptly performed with Flynn and deMayo's modification of Durrum's apparatus 3 . The serum aliquots of 0.01 or 0.02 ml were streaked for protein or lipid staining respectively. The remaining control and experilmental sera were incubaited at 38°C for 24 hours. before being subjected to paper electrophoresis. Protein was stained with naphthalene black 12B200 and lipid with oil red O by technics previously described 4 . Total lipids were determined gravimetrioally 4 , and lipid phosphorus by a modified Fiske-SubbaRow procedure 5 in ahquots of serum extracted with Bloor's reagent (alcohol 3 parts/anhydrous ether, 1 part).
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