A COMPARISON OF CHOLESTEROL-ESTER FATTY ACID PATTERNS IN BLOOD AND IN EVOLVING XANTHOMA AND ATHEROMA DURING CHOLESTEROL-FEEDING OF RABBITS

[摘要] The cholesterol ester fatty acids (CEFA) of plasma, skin, and aorta were analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography at various intervals of time after cholesterol feeding to rabbits. During the experimental period, the fatty acid patterns in the plasma and the 2 tissues became altered in such a way that they resemble one another by 4-8 weeks of cholesterol feeding. This is about the time that grossly discernible lesions of xanthoma planum develop on the nape of the neck and fatty streaks in the aortic arch are first observed. The similarity in the CEFA patterns suggests that a major portion of the sterol esters accumulating in the skin and aorta come from the plasma, but certain differences between the plasma and tissues also suggest that this is not a simple random deposition. The parallelism in the alterations of the skin and aortic CEFA patterns suggest that the xanthoma CEFA might closely reflect similar variations in the vasculature which occur as atherosclerosis develops.