Serum lipids in choline-deficient male and female rats

Abstract

Serum lipids from normal and choline-deficient male and female rats were fractionated on silicic acid. Total cholesterol, phosphorus, and fatty acid compositions were determined on serum cholesterol esters, triglycerides, phospholipids, and a small mixed fraction. Choline deficiency reduced the concentration of all classes of lipids in both sexes. Decreases in the phospholipid fractions of both sexes, and in cholesterol ester fractions of female rats, were largely due to preferential decreases in their arachidonic acid components, but the fatty acids in triglycerides decreased uniformly in both sexes.