LIPEMIA 415 



Zillner** gives the following scheme of the changes that take place 

 in a cadavrr undergoing aflipocorc formation: (1) Migration of fluid 

 contents of the body (imbibition of blood and transudation) — one to 

 four weeks. (2) Decomposition of superficial epidermis, then of 

 corium — ^first two months. (3) Decomposition of muscle and gland 

 parenchyma, until only the inorganic part of the bones and the con- 

 nective and elastic tissues remain — three to twelve months. (4) 

 Migration of neutral fat, crystallization and partial saponification of 

 the higher fatty acids in the panniculus; transformation of the blood 

 pigment into crystalline form — four to twelve or more months. ^^ 



LiPEMIA 



Normally the blood contains a considerable amount of fats and 

 lipoids, varying somewhat, but not greatly, with the diet. The older 

 literature gave figures varying widely, but analyses by more modern 

 methods"- give figures for the ether-soluble constituents of the normal 

 plasma (before breakfast) ranging ordinarily from 0.57 to 0.82 per 

 cent., of which cholesterol and phosphatid"'' are about equal (0.2 to 0.3 

 per cent.) with very httle neutral fat (0.1 to 0.2 per cent.). In various 

 diseases, exclusive of diabetes, the total lipin content was found by 

 Bloor to be about normal, but the proportion of the different lipins 

 varied somewhat. After taking fat-rich food, however, there may be 

 a considerable excess of the food fats in the serum, and it is, there- 

 fore, extremely difficult to say just when the amount of fat in the blood 

 is large enough to be considered as a lipemia, especially since after every 

 fatty meal there is enough fat in the blood to make it turbid.'"'^" B. 

 Fisher"* states that we may speak of a pathological lipemia when we 

 have a distinctly cloudy blood or serum, which is clarified by shaking 

 with ether through the dissolving out of fat which can then be sepa- 

 rated from the ether. We may, however, sometimes find turbid 

 plasma with normal hpin content and clear plasma with hyperlipemia 

 (Gray). Earlier writers described, incorrectly, lipemia in many con- 

 ditions, but recent writers mention it chiefly as occurring in alcoholism"^ 

 and diabetes. By far the greatest amounts of fat are observed in the 

 latter condition, and diabetic lipemia is always accompanied by an 

 acidosis, although acidosis often occurs without lipemia. Experi- 



^* Sclerema neonatorum is caused by hardening of the subcutaneous fat, perhaps 

 because of a low proportion of oleic acid. (Beyer, Verh. Deut. Path. Gesell., 1908 

 (12), .305.) C. S. Smith, however, found normal oleic acid but a high figure for 

 free fatty acids. Others have described high melting points for the fat, believing 

 the condition to be merely an exaggeration of the normally high proportion of 

 palmitic and stearic acids of infant fat tissues (Smith, Jour. Cut. Dis., 1918 (36), 

 436). 



«2 Bloor, Jour. Biol. Chem., 1916 (25), 577. 



^^ Concerning blood lecithin see Feigl, Biochem. Zeit., 1918 (90), 361. 



®^" Neisser and Brauning, Zeit. exp. Bath. u. Ther., 1907 (4), 747. 



" Virchow's Arch., 1903 (172), 30. R6sum6 and complete literature. 



^^ Also occurs in 'experimental alcoholism (Feigl, Biochem. Zeit., 1918 (92), 

 282; Bang, ibid., (90), 383). 



