Effects of Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency and X-Radiation on the Plasma Cholesteryl Ester Spectrum of the Rat

Exploratory studies of the serum cholesteryl ester spectrum of the rat indicate that when linoleic acid is withdrawn from the diet, the normally predominant arachidonate and linoleate components begin to be replaced rather quickly by other unsaturated fatty acid moieties which do not require linoleate as an obligatory precursor. Although exposure of the animal to 600 r x-radiation does not greatly effect the normal spectrum, such a physiologic insult dramatically aggrevates the abnormality of the spectrum of the animal with deficiency of fat.