Skin surface lipids of the dog

Abstract

Abstract The skin surface lipid of the dog has been reported to contain a high proportion of diol diesters having a lower mobility on thin layer chromatography than diesters from other species in spite of containing similar fatty acid and diol components. In the present study, dog skin surface lipid was separated by preparative thin layer chromatography into sterol esters (42%), wax diesters (32%), free sterols (9%), polar lipids (7%), and unidentified components (10%). The diesters contained 1,2‐diols, each esterified with one long chain fatty acid and one isovaleric acid moiety. The diols were principally branched chain C 21 and C 22 compounds while the long chain fatty acids esterified with them were mainly C 20 and C 21 branched compounds. The fatty acids from the sterol esters were mostly saturated, branched chain C 19 to C 23 , together with 7% of straight chain monoenoic acids, principally C 21 and C 22 . There were only trace amounts of free sterols other than cholesterol, while the esterified sterols contained 96% cholesterol and 4% lathosterol.