Metabolism of(14)C-labelled oleic acid, erucic acid and nervonic acid in rats.

1-(14)C-Oleic acid, 2-(14)C-erucic acid and 2-(14)C-nervonic acid were administered to rats by tail-vein and the distribution of radioactivity in liver lipids was determined at intervals from 15 min to 6 hr after injection. High levels of activity were found after short time intervals which were mainly associated with triglycerides in the case of oleic acid and with free fatty acids in the case of erucic acid and nervonic acid. The activity in these lipids decreased with time and was later exceeded by that in more polar lipids. In rats given erucic acid or nervonic acid, sphingolipids were more highly labelled than glycerophosphatides. Nervonic acid showed little tendency to form a complex with serum albumin and erucic acid complexed less readily than palmitic acid.