FACTORS ALTERING CONCENTRATION OF BLOOD LIPIDS 435 



cells lose the power to take up fat, and that a resultant hyperlipemia de- 

 velops. 



More recently, when the deficiency was limited to vitamin B (chiefly a 

 deficiency in thiamine), increased plasma lipids were recorded. 492 Chole- 

 sterol and fatty acids increased to about three times their normal value. 

 Lecoq 493 is of the opinion that the assimilation of lipids requires the pres- 

 ence of vitamin B. 



Although low blood cholesterol values have been recorded in human 

 scurvy, 494 increased fatty acids and phospholipids have been noted in the 

 blood of scorbutic guinea pigs, the level of blood cholesterol remaining 

 unchanged, except in the terminal period, during which a decrease occurs. 495 



In spite of the few positive correlations between blood lipids and avita- 

 minosis, there is little evidence that such changes are directly due to the lack 

 of the vitamins. It would seem that other factors, such as the partial 

 starvation resulting from anorexia developed during avitaminosis, might 

 more properly be considered as the causes responsible for the alterations 

 in the blood picture. 



e. The Blood Lipids as Affected by Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency. 

 It has long been recognized that the fatty acids combined with cholesterol 



Table 14 



Effect of a Fat-Deficient Diet on the Cholesterol Level of the Liver 



and Adrenal Glands, and of the Blood Plasma, of the Rat° 



Control, 12.5% cottonseed oil. 



Fat-free diets 

 Vitamin-test casein 



Commercial casein 



°R. B. Alfin-Slater, L. Aftergood, A. F. Wells, and H. J. Deuel, Jr., Arch. Biochem. 

 Biophys., in press, 1954. 



in the plasma are more unsaturated than are those in neutral fat or in phos- 

 pholipids (see page 353). In fact, it has usually been assumed that 

 cholesterol functions in the transport of the highly unsaturated acids. It 



492 H. Lawaczeck, Z. physiol. Chem., 125, 229-247 (1923). 



493 R. Lecoq, Bull. soc. chim. biol, 15, 1498-1507 (1933). 



494 N. A. Ssokoloff, Deut. Arch. klin. Med., 145, 236-239 (1924). 



495 S. Ohata, /. Biochem. (Japan), 16, 191-206 (1932). 



