THE LIPIDS OF THE BLOOD PLASMA IN EPILEPSY

Abstract

I. The lecithin, cholesterol and total fatty acids of the blood plasma were determined in 100 children with epilepsy and in 32 non-epileptic controls. The range of values for cholesterol and its degree of variability were not significantly different for the 2 groups. The mean value for lecithin was significantly lower and that for total fatty acids significantly higher in the epileptics than in the non-epileptic controls. Both the phospholipid and the total fatty acid values showed significantly greater variability in the epileptic than in the normal subjects.[long dash]II. Plasma lecithin, cholesterol and total fatty acids, determined at varying intervals before and after convulsions in 11 severely epileptic children, showed no constant relationship between the absolute level of any one of these constituents and the occurrence of seizures. However, the lecithin-cholesterol ratios showed a tendency to be higher at or near the time of seizures than at other times. Prolonged use of diets high in fat and low in carbohydrate caused a marked elevation in all the lipid fractions. The lecithin was more variable than the cholesterol and tended to show a relative increase in relationship to seizures.