The Metabolism of Fatty Acids in the Rat III. Arachidic Acid

Abstract 1‐C14‐Arachidic acid and 9–10‐H3‐palmitic acid in rat serum were simultaneously injected into fasted and refed male rats and the blood and tissue distribution of radioactivity were studied. The results suggest that, in spite of quantitative differences, arachidic acid enters the same principal pathways as palmitic acid. The labeled arachidic acid disappeared more slowly from the blood than did the palmitic acid. Two minutes after the injection slightly less arachidic than palmitic acid label was recovered from the whole animal. In the liver, more of the esterified arachidic acid than of the palmitic acid radioactivity was present in triglyceride and less in phospholipicl.