Characterization of the Constituent Fatty Acids in the Phosphoglycerides of Chemically Induced Polycystic Disease and Gastric Tumor in Rat

The positional distribution of fatty acids in choline- and ethanolamine phosphoglycerides from the livers of polycystic disease-bearing rats and stomachs of gastric tumor-bearing rats was analyzed and compared to that in normal rat liver and stomach. Polycystic disease and gastric tumors were induced with N-Methyl-N'-Nitro-N-Nitrosoguanidine. There was no significant difference between diseased and normal organs with respect to the composition of fatty acids at the 1-position, except that diseased livers exhibited an increase of approximately 22% in 16: 0 fatty acid and a decrease of approximately 12% in 18: 1 fatty acid. However, in diseased organs, there were marked quantitative changes in the positional distribution of fatty acids at the 2-position, their composition exhibiting greater saturation. Furthermore, in diseased organs, there was an increase in 15: 0 fatty acid at the 2-position of ethanolamine phosphoglycerides.