Brain Lipid Content Research Articles

Influence of Diet on Lipid Content of the Rat's Brain

Previous studies on the blood lipids in epilepsy1 and in acute infectious diseases2 indicated to us the need for further information regarding the factors which control the lipid content of the tissues. The present report deals with the influence of various diets on the total fatty acid, cholesterol and phospholipid content of the rat's brain. The interest of earlier workers appears to have centered chiefly in cholesterol. Page and Menschick,3 Chanutin and Ludewig4 and others have shown that the cholesterol content of the rabbit's liver is greatly increased by prolonged ingestion of this substance, whereas that of the brain is not changed. Best and Ridout5 found that the livers of cholesterol-fed rats could be prevented from becoming excessively fatty by addition of choline to the diet. A high fat diet is said to inhibit and a high carbohydrate diet to accelerate deposition of cholesterol in the liver.4 The effect of diet on the phospholipid content of the brain appears not to have been investigated.A ser...