Evidence for Occurrence of Methyl Esters in Body and Blood Lipids.

Abstract

Methyl elaidate-1-C14 was fed to fat-deficient guinea pigs. Analysis of the body lipids by gas-liquid and by thin-layer silicic acid chromatography gave conclusive proof of the occurrence of methyl esters. The estimated activity attributed to recovered methyl elaidate compared well with the activity of the fed material. Occurrence of methyl esters in body as well as in blood lipids was conclusively demonstrated in normal pellet-fed animals. By using propanol instead of methanol and also by merely soaking the whole liver or adipose tissue in ethyl ether for extracting lipids it was further shown that the methyl esters are not formed during homogenization and extraction. Distribution of the activity in the various purified lipid components was determined.