The synthesis of C14-lipids in rabbit atheromatous lesions.

Studies of the accumulation of phospholipids in the aortic intima of cholesterol-fed rabbits have been reported previously from this laboratory (l-4). After P3z-phosphate injection, it was found that the phospholipid specific activity was higher in aortic intima than in plasma, and that this difference in specific activity was accentuated in eviscerated animals. Although this study gave evidence for the synthesis of the phosphate moiety of phospholipid in the aorta, the site at which the carbon skeleton of the molecule was synthesized still had to be established. In the present study rabbits were treated by injection with sodium acetate-l-Cl4 to measure the incorporation of this label into the phospholipids and other lipids of plasma and intima.