THE CHEMISTRY OF CERUMEN - A PRELIMINARY REPORT

[摘要] The nature of the lipid fraction of normal cerumen was investigated. The alcohol-ether soluble fraction of non-desiccated cerumen is only 21% of the total, a small amount in view of the waxy-lipid-like consistency of cerumen. Less than half of the alcohol-ether soluble material was soluble in anhydrous ether, and the portion soluble in the latter solvent contained only a small amount of phospholipid. The ether-soluble portion contained about 61% saponifiable and 39% unsaponifiable material. Cholesterol in the unsaponifiable fraction was identified by the Libermann-Burchard reaction and by infra-red spectroscopy. Good separation of pure fatty acids and also of fatty acids from the saponifiable fraction of ear wax was not obtained using paper chromatography. This investigation demonstrated that migration of certain pure fatty acids will take place on paper and that PbS is a suitable agent for the location of fatty acids on paper after migration.