Relationship between experimental obesity and plasma lipid fractions.

Serum lipids of three types of obese animals have been studied; GTG mice, the lesioned rat (VMH) and the Zucker rat. Analysis was performed by thin layer chromatography and densitometric quantification. These methods separate 14 lipid fractions after serum extraction. The experimental evidence shows that GTG mice and VMH rats are characterized, in comparison with their lean strains by elevated cholesteryl-ester fractions, triglycerides, lecithins and lysolecithins. In addition the Zucker rat is essentially hypertriglyceridemic and shows increased phospholipid levels. The analysis also stresses the importance of polyunsaturated fractions of cholesteryl esters in obese animals.