High incorporation of dietary 1-O-heptadecyl glycerol into tissue plasmalogens of young rats.

When 1-O-heptadecyl-rac-glycerol was fed (20 mg/g of food) to 19-day-old rats for 10 days, a high incorporation of the heptadecyl group into the 1-O-alk-1'-enyl group of ethanolamine plasmalogens of all tissues was observed. For example, 62% of the alkenyl groups from liver plasmalogen was of the 17:0 variety. The analogous values for other tissues were 62% in kidney, 57% in lung, 57% in heart, 50% in intestine, 43% in erythrocytes, 25% in testis and 8% in brain. The corresponding figures in the control rats (fed normal rat chow) were only 2-3% of 17:0 for all tissues. Available evidence indicates that dietary 1-O-heptadecyl-sn-glycerol is utilized to form tissue plasmalogens without the cleavage of the ether bond. The relevance of these results to the possible dietary ether lipid therapy of patients suffering from congenital ether lipid deficiency is discussed.