DISTRIBUTION OF UNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS IN TISSUES

Abstract

The unsaturated fatty acids, especially those of the higher degrees of unsaturation, appear to be of great importance in the part which the lipids play in cell life.It was believed therefore that a study of the distribution and character of these substances in tissues, including the types of compounds in which they were contained and the degree of their unsaturation, was a necessary preliminary step in the study of their functions.Data have been presented on the heart (1) and other muscles (2) of beef, and in the following are contained similar data on the more important vital organs of the same animal.As noted previously, attention has been confined to the tissues of one animal because it was believed that only in that way could the relative importance of the different lipids be established.An animal was chosen of such size and availability that large amounts of tissues could be easily obtained, allowing the use of standard gross methods of separation and analysis and avoiding in this way assumptions as to the nature of the compounds studied.h'o account was taken of age or similar variables since it was desired at first to find out the extent of variations in normal animals.Conditions were standard and comparable in that the animals had been prepared for slaughter and sale in the good markets of the city and were therefore presumably normal and healthy and had gone through a period of fattening and hence relative rest and good nutrition.Procedure.-Thetissues were received while st,ill warm from the animal and the examination was begun at once.The procedure for the extraction and examination was the same as in the preced-