FACTORS ALTERING CONCENTRATION OF BLOOD LIPIDS 457 



2.0 for the ratio of the maximum levels of lecithin and of cholesterol, 

 respectively, during the acute phase of the disease, as compared with the 

 values for the pre-anemic period. 



When dogs were employed as experimental animals, the marked change 

 in anemia was the increased unsaturation of the lipid fraction. In Bloor's 

 experiments, 19 the lecithin fraction, which was increased by 30%, also ex- 

 hibited the greatest increase in unsaturation (+24%). Terroine, 208 

 however, found little change in any serum lipids after removal of a large 

 proportion of blood over several days. Some increase was observed in 

 serum cholesterol. Bloor and MacPherson 652 found that the concentration 

 of lipids in the blood cells was less affected by hemorrhage than was that 

 of the lipids in the plasma. 



Plasma lipids were found to respond markedly to hemorrhagic anemia, 

 in the case of the guinea pig. Feigl 653 reported that total fatty acids were 

 increased ten times, lecithin four times, and cholesterol seven times by this 

 condition. High lipid values were also reported for a human subject who 

 had undergone a severe loss of blood. 653 



(b) The Blood Lipids in Anemias of Man. In contradistinction to the 

 results on rabbits, lipid phosphorus and cholesterol are depressed in the 

 plasma of man in several types of anemia. 210 ' 302 - 662 ' 664-668 In most of these 

 instances, a concomitant rise in the plasma fatty acids was noted, which 

 would indicate an increase in neutral fat. 210 - 662 ' 664 ' 658 The alterations in 

 blood lipid do not usually occur until the erythrocyte count is less than 50% 

 of the normal 669 ; however, in idiopathic anemia, no constant proportion- 

 ality exists between the severity of the anemia and the change in blood 

 lipids. 666 - 657 When the anemia is cleared up, the serum lipids return to 

 normal. 656-658 



The reason why a disturbance in the lipid concentration of the blood occurs 

 is obscure. One suggestion as to the cause of the increase in blood lipids 

 in anemia is that they result from the diminished oxygen-carrying power of 

 the blood. 7 Although anoxemia induces hyperlipemia in rabbits, 660 



662 W. R. Bloor and D. J. MacPherson, /. Biol. Chem., 31, 79-95 (1917). 



653 J. Feigl, Biochem. Z., 115, 63-70 (1921). 



654 B. N. Erickson, H. H. Williams, F. C. Hummel, P. Lee, and I. G. Macy, J. Biol. 

 Chem., 118, 569-598 (1937). 



655 J. Feigl, Biochem. Z., 93, 257-288 (1919). 



656 G. L. Muller, Am. J. Med. Scl, 179, 316-337 (1930). 



657 G. L. Muller and C. W. Heath, Arch. Internal Med., 52, 288-305 (1933). 



658 H. H. Williams, B. N. Erickson, S. Bernstein, F. C. Hummel, and I. G. Macy, 

 /. Biol. Chem.., 118, 599-618 (1937). 



669 W. MacAdam and C. Shiskin, Quart. J. Med., 16, 193-203 (1923). 

 660 U. Stamp, Biochem. Z., 270, 74-92 (1934). 



