Erythrocyte Fatty Acid Composition and Apparent Permeability to Non-Electrolytes.

Abstract

Summary Variations in the nature of the dietary fat resulted in changes in the mixed fatty acid composition of rat erythrocytes. An increase in linoleate content of the diet led to an increased cellular linoleate and arachidonate content whereas diets deficient in linoleate resulted in accumulation of palmitoleic, oleic and eicosatrienoic acids. The changes in cellular essential fatty acids were accompanied by changes in the apparent permeability of the erythrocytes, as measured by rate of hemolysis of the cells in isotonic solutions of non-electrolytes. Increasing levels of cellular essential fatty acids resulted in decreases in hemolysis rates of the erythrocytes. The relationship between the relative rate of hemolysis in isotonic glycerol and the concentration of essential fatty acids was approximately linear. An attempt has been made to correlate the increased hemolysis of the cells from the deficient rats with the changes in fatty acid composition and the possible modification of the phosphatide structure resulting from these changes.