The fatty acid composition of cholesteryl esters, phospholipids and triglycerides of the baboon, Papio ursinus

Abstract

Summary o (1) Analysis of the sera of more than 100 wild baboons, Papio ursinus , revealed that the cholesteryl esters had the following fatty acid composition: 22.7 palmitic, 5.8 palmitoleic, 10.4 stearic, 24.8 oleic, 31.7 linoleic, 1.0 linolenic, and 5.0% arachidonic acids. The total unsaturated cholesteryl fatty acids comprised 68.4% of the total cholesteryl esters. (2) The average fatty acid composition of the phospholipids was as follows: 29.1 palmitic, 3.1 palmitoleic, 21.5 stearic, 16.9 oleic, 20.0 linoleic, 1.1 linolenic and 7.2 arachidonic acids. The total phospholipid contained 48.3% unsaturated acids. (3) The fatty acid composition of the triglycerides was the following, i.e. 34.7 palmitic, 7.5 palmitoleic, 11.2 stearic, 32.0 oleic, 14.3 linoleic, 1.3 linolenic and 2.5% arachidonic acids. (4) Very low density lipoproteins of baboon sera contained a higher proportion of the saturated fatty acids in cholesteryl esters, phospholipids and triglycerides than the high density lipoproteins. (5) In baboon sera the high density lipoprotein fractions contained about 55%, 59% and 80% of the total cholesterol, fatty acids, and phospholipids, respectively. Of the total triglyceride content of baboon sera, about 64% was found in the very low density fraction.