204 W. R. BLOOR 



Munk and Friedenthal that the fat content of the corpuscles increase 

 during fat. ahsorption has been recently confirmed and it was also show 

 that the increase of fat was accompanied by increases of lecithin, fro: 

 which the inference was drawn that the corpuscles take up the suspend 

 fat from the plasma and transform it into lecithin. Some support i 

 given to this inference by the observations of Thiele and of Foa (11)15) 

 who found that the blood esterase decomposes lecithin only when corpuscl 

 are present, indicating that this esterase, which presumably also syntliesi 

 lecithin, is present only in the corpuscles. On the other hand, later wor 

 in this laboratory has shown that in certain dogs lecithin does not marked! 

 increase in the corpuscles but does in the plasma. As has been recent! 

 pointed out by Bang (1918), animals show great individuality in thei 

 blood reaction to ingested fat. Some can dispose of large amounts withou 

 showing much effect on the blood lipoids; others react strongly. Hi 

 makes some suggestions to explain the differences habituation to fat 

 and the presence of carbohydrate in the food or of much stored glycoge 

 being in his opinion important factors. As regards lecithin formation i 

 the blood it is not likely that it is confined to the corpuscles but probable 

 that other cells with which the suspended fat comes in contact have the 

 same function. Furthermore, the failure to find increased lecithin valu 

 in the corpuscles of certain animals does not necessarily mean that it i 

 not formed there. It may be formed and pass at once into the plasma. 



Lipoids of the Blood. A great deal of investigative work has bee 

 done on the lipoids of the blood both in the normal and in various path 

 ological conditions, the results of which in general bear out the rule jus 

 enunciated, that when one of the constituents (fat, cholesterol, lecithin) 

 is found abnormal the other two will also be abnormal and in the sam< 

 direction. It has been shown how feeding fat increases the blood lecithin 

 and while there is some question as to whether blood cholesterol is i 

 creased in the lipemia produced by a single fat feeding there is none at 

 where the lipemia persists. Feeding cholesterol produces not only increase 

 of blood cholesterol but also of blood lecithin. Whether feeding lecithin 

 would produce increases in the other two constituents has not been reported 

 and probably cannot be determined since lecithin is largely hydrolyzed 

 in the alimentary tract and probably absorbed as fat although some may 

 appear as such in -the chyle. While there are not enough data available 

 to justify the statement that there is a constant relation between the 

 three constituents in normal and in most pathological conditions, the 

 tendency seems to be in that direction and, at any rate, it appears reason- 

 ably certain that the three substances are interdependent, and also that all 

 are concerned in the metabolism of the fatty acids. 



The concentration of fat, cholesterol and lecithin in the blood is fairly 

 constant for the same species but varies greatly in different species, the 

 variation being noticeable mainly in the plasma. The coneentration in 





